Ministry of Defence

Chinook Helicopters: Procurement

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department expects to take delivery of new Chinook H-47 extended range aircraft.

James Cartlidge: The programme will deliver a total of 14 Extended Range Chinook Helicopters to the Department with delivery from 2027.

Armed Forces

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel had served in the Armed Forces for four years or more in each of the last five years.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel in the Armed Forces had (a) four and (b) five years of service in (i) 2023 and (ii) 2024.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The below table shows the number of personnel within UK Regular forces with the exact Length of Service of four or more years. YearFour years or more service2020104,6302021105,7802022106,2002023102,6302024101,430 The below table shows the number of personnel within UK Regulars with a Length of Service of four and five years, as at 1 January in each year. Year4 Years5 Years20237,1007,46020249,7806,290

Unmanned Ground Vehicles: Procurement

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of procuring unmanned ground vehicles for the Army.

James Cartlidge: Work is ongoing to increase the Army's understanding of how uncrewed ground capabilities could assist in the challenges faced by last mile resupply, Unexploded Ordnance management and route assurance.

Artillery: Procurement

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 18 January 2024 to Question 8883, if he will publish the outline business case for the Mobile Fires Platform.

James Cartlidge: The Department does not publish the outcome of Investment Approvals Committee decisions or equipment programme business cases it has considered.

Fleet Solid Support Ships

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled DE&S and Team Resolute sign Fleet Solid Support ships contract, published on 18 January 2023, what steps he is taking to promote skills and technology transfer when building the Fleet Solid Support ships.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement (Alex Chalk) to the right hon. Member for North Durham (Kevan Jones) on 29 November 2022 to Question 94716.Fleet Solid Support Ships: Contracts (docx, 15.1KB)

Challenger Tanks

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Brake horsepower will the Challenger 3 engine be capable of outputting.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what engine will be fitted to the Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank.

James Cartlidge: Challenger 3 will have the Caterpillar CV12 9A engine which produces 1200hp.

Multi-role Ocean Surveillance Ships: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the planned in-service date is for the future Multi-Role Support Ships.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 7 February 2024 in response to Question 11951.Multi-role Ocean Surveillance Ships (docx, 28.2KB)

Army: Defence Equipment

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what bridging capabilities the British Army holds as of 11 March 2024.

James Cartlidge: The British Army holds the following bridging assets, in order to ensure we meet all our operational requirements: Infantry Assault BridgesClose Support BridgesGeneral Support BridgesHeavy Girder Over BridgesMedium Girder BridgesLogistic Support BridgesM3 Amphibious Rigs

Typhoon Aircraft: Expenditure

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on Typhoon in each financial year since 2019-20.

James Cartlidge: The Typhoon total spend on equipment costs by financial year is as follows: FYTotal spend (£million)2019-20424.6032020-21500.6602021-22525.4142022-23576.697  The Typhoon total spend on operating costs by financial year is as follows: FYTotal spend (£million)2019-2048.8062020-2154.0152021-2253.9962022-2360.917  The Typhoon team is a specific project team in DE&S and the figures above represent the total spend of that team. The figure does not represent the total spend on all Typhoon projects across Defence.

Ministry of Defence: Expenditure

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Domain Commercial Officers in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Air Support Commercial Team in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Combat Air Commercial Team in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Ships Commercial Team in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Land Equipment Commercial Team in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Weapons Commercial Team in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Helicopters Commercial Team in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Integrated Battlespace Commercial Team in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: The delivery of Defence Equipment and Support business requires a range of specialist skills embedded within delivery teams. Against an affordable demand signal from the delivery teams, Commercial function managers deploy commercial officers according to their expertise and business priorities. The number and grade of commercial officers will vary according to current demand and, as such, it would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold to provide this figure against any single team.

Ministry of Defence: Expenditure

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the International Relations Group in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: The International Relations Group is a specific team in Defence Equipment and Support. The spend per year for the team is as follows: Financial YearTotal spend (£million)2019-202.8552020-212.7472021-223.3062022-233.454

Independent Review of UK Government Welfare Services for Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15406 on Independent Review of UK Government Welfare Services for Veterans, if he will provide deadlines for implementation of each of the recommendations of that Review.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 15 March 2024 to Question 17306.Independent Review of UK Government Welfare Servic (docx, 15.0KB)

Armed Forces: Labour Turnover

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of engineers in the (a) British Army, (b) Royal Air Force and (c) Royal Navy have left their roles in each year since 2010.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Ministry of Defence: Remote Working

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of staff in his Department work from home.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD), along with other Government Departments, is committed to Smarter Working and much of our workforce has embraced the benefits of hybrid working both for themselves personally and for the business. We have implemented Government direction on increased office attendance and, as a broad average, 40% of time is spent working remotely for office based workers, for some this will be more and for others less. This is dependent upon the activity and business outcomes to be delivered. All employees agree their working location with their local line management, although this can sometimes be influenced by site capacity constraints. Details of Departmental headquarters’ occupancy are published on a regular basis and can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-headquarters-occupancy-data

Nuclear Weapons

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to de-escalate nuclear rhetoric in the context of the Ukraine war.

James Heappey: The Russia Ukraine war is a very serious situation but is not, and should not become, a nuclear crisis. Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is unhelpful and the UK, along with our allies and partners continues to call on Russia to de-escalate.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the RAF has made an assessment of the effectiveness of using aircraft to airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza.

James Heappey: Defence continually carries out assessments on the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including the effectiveness of using aircraft to conduct air drops. Defence stands ready to assist the FCDO in its delivery of humanitarian aid where military capabilities can best assist, to ensure that aid is delivered as rapidly, efficiently and safely as possible. The most effective way for aid to reach the people of Gaza is for Israel to open more land crossings.

Department of Health and Social Care

Lung Cancer: Screening

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the additional resources required in (a) primary care, (b) thoracic surgery and (c) systemic anti-cancer therapy clinics following the implementation of a national lung cancer screening programme.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Lung Cancer: Screening

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Targeted Lung Health Check sites are planned to begin operation in each financial year until 2027-28.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Lung Cancer: Screening

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish an assessment of the CT scanner capacity required to support the national roll-out of lung cancer screening by 2028.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Lung Cancer: Screening

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to (a) implementing the national roll-out of lung cancer screening and (b) increasing CT scanner capacity to support the national roll-out of lung cancer screening in each financial year until 2027-2028.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Lung Cancer: Screening

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans NHS England has to update the standard protocol for the Targeted Lung Health Check programme to reflect work carried out by the National Screening Committee’s lung cancer screening task group.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Dental Services: Finance

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much additional funding will be provided to integrated care boards through the dentistry recovery plan by area.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Infectious Diseases: Babies

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) active and (b) passive surveillance measures in informing prevention strategies for infectious diseases in newborn babies.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Clinical Trials

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will (a) make an assessment of the effectiveness of clinical research practices in Singapore and (b) use that assessment to improve clinical research in the UK.

Andrew Stephenson: As leaders in research, science and innovation, the United Kingdom works closely with Singapore across priorities that will drive economic growth and positive societal impact. Our Prime Ministers issued a Joint Declaration on the Singapore-United Kingdom Strategic Partnership in September 2023, which includes research, science, innovation, and technology as one of five priority pillars for the partnership. We will continue to identify opportunities to learn from countries around the world, including Singapore.We are focussed on improving clinical research in the UK based on barriers and enablers that have been identified through multiple fora and stakeholders. The vision for the Future of Clinical Research Delivery and the Government response to the O’Shaughnessy review set out our plans to speed up clinical trials, and make it easier for revolutionary healthcare treatments to get to National Health Service patients through research.

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and Public Health England: Staff

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent staff were employed in the health improvement directorate of (a) the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and (b) Public Health England in each year since 2017.

Andrew Stephenson: A Health Improvement Directorate was not part of the structure of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) when it was established as part of the Department, in October 2021. The OHID incorporated people and health improvement functions from different parts of Public Health England (PHE) and the Department. The following figures show the total civil servant full time equivalent (FTE) complement of the OHID since its establishment in October 2021:- 1,115 FTE civil servants as of 31 March 2022;- 923 FTE civil servants as of 31 March 2023; and- 777 FTE civil servants as of 31 December 2023. The number of FTE staff recorded as assigned to PHE’s Health Improvement directorate from 2017 to 2021 was:- 991 as of May 2017;- 1,041 as of March 2018;- 1,064 as of March 2019;- 1,086 as of March 2020; and- 1,062 as of March 2021.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cancer treatments were carried out in each of the last two years.

Andrew Stephenson: NHS England publishes this data on its website. The most recent figures on cancer treatments carried out can be found in this document:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/02/CWT-CRS-National-Time-Series-Oct-2009-Dec-2023-with-Revisions.xlsx

NHS: Pay

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with trade unions representing Agenda for Change staff.

Andrew Stephenson: My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had a number of recent meetings with representatives of the Agenda for Change trade unions, to hear their individual and collective priorities for pay, and terms and conditions.

Public Health: Care Homes

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure the early identification of public health risks in care homes.

Helen Whately: Guidance on how to prevent and control infections in adult social care settings was updated and published in January 2024. This helps providers prepare for and manage a range of potential infections in care homes, and signposts to health protection teams who can provide further support locally when required. The UK Health Security Agency tracks outbreaks of infections in care homes, and is developing new information systems to improve this process.

Acute Beds: North West

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average (a) cost per adult and (b) length of stay was for an acute hospital bed day in the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care system in the 2022-2023 financial year.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average (a) cost per adult and (b) length of stay was for an acute hospital bed day in each acute trust within the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care system in the 2022-2023 financial year.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average (a) daily cost is for an adult intensive care unit hospital bed and (b) length of stay was in those beds in the latest period for which data is available in each acute trust within the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care system boundary.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average (a) daily cost is per adult elderly care hospital bed and (b) length of stay was in those beds in the latest period for which data is available in each acute trust within the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care system boundary.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average (a) daily cost per adult held in the emergency department and (b) length of stay was in that department in the latest period for which data is available in each acute trust within the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care system boundary.

Helen Whately: The information is not available in the format requested. NHS England published the general and acute length of bed stay data for 2022/23, with data available at trust level but not an integrated care system level, which is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-admitted-patient-care-activity/2022-23The length of stay in an adult intensive care unit hospital bed and an elderly care hospital bed is not collected centrally by the Department, or published by NHS England. NHS England publishes the median total time spent in accident and emergency, from arrival to admission, transfer, or discharge, and again with data available at trust level but not an integrated care system level, which is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/provisional-accident-and-emergency-quality-indicators-for-england/january-2024-by-providerThe information requested on average daily costs by acute trust and integrated care system is not collected centrally by the Department.

Electronic Cigarettes

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made (a) of the number of vaping products that have been seized by trading standards and (b) of those, the number that (i) were non-compliant with UK regulations and (ii) have gone through the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency notification process.

Andrea Leadsom: The underage and illicit sale of tobacco, and more recently vapes, undermines the work the Government is doing to regulate the industry and protect public health. The Government is increasing investment for our enforcement agencies by £30 million per year. In addition, the Government also announced £3 million of investment to a new illicit vapes enforcement unit, led by National Trading Standards, building on existing work by trading standards officers across the country. They identified that 2.1 million illicit vapes were seized across England by trading standards in 2022 to 2023. These vapes often contain unknown ingredients, higher levels of nicotine, and are often made easily available through markets that target children. The Department does not hold data on the total number of vaping products seized by Trading Standards that have successfully gone through the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s notification process.

Streptococcus: Babies

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an estimate of the annual economic costs to the NHS of Group B streptococcus infections in newborns.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made.

Streptococcus: Babies

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of reporting the incidence of Group B streptococcal infections in newborns.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made.

Primodos

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to take steps to implement recommendations in the report by the APPG on Hormone Pregnancy Test entitled Bitter Pill: Primodos - the forgotten thalidomide, published on 27 February 2024.

Maria Caulfield: We remain hugely sympathetic to the families who believe that they have suffered because of using Hormone Pregnancy Tests (HPTs). In 2017 an independent Expert Working Group (EWG) conducted a comprehensive review of the available scientific evidence and concluded that the data did not support a causal association between the use of HPTs, such as Primodos, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. This remains the Government’s position. The Government has committed to reviewing any new evidence related to HPTs and a possible causal association with adverse pregnancy outcomes.On the recently published recommendations of the HPT All-Party Parliamentary Group, we have no plans to set up an independent review to examine the findings of the EWG. In the interests of transparency, all evidence collected and papers considered by the EWG were published in 2018, along with full minutes of its discussions. Details of conflicts of interests and how these were managed were also published. The Government is reviewing Professor Danielsson’s publication to consider if it presents any new evidence or analyses not already considered by the EWG on HPTs, and will be seeking independent expert advice from the Commission on Human Medicines in due course.

Shingles

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many shingles cases have led to complications requiring treatment in the last five years.

Maria Caulfield: The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) does not collect data on shingles cases that have led to complications requiring treatment. NHS England has provided the number of hospital admissions, with and without complications, from 2018/19 to 2022/23: 2018/192019/202020/212021/222022/23Total with Complications1,5211,5521,2591,4861,401Total without Complications2,0082,0241,6231,8061,730Grand Total3,5293,5762,8823,2923,131Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS EnglandThis should not be described as counts of people, however, as the same person may have more than one admission within any given time period. In addition, the UKHSA has published a paper showing the impact of the zostavax vaccine on the number of hospital admissions, which is available at the following link:   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32641364/

Dental Services

Dr Neil Hudson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to support access to dentists in (a) Penrith and The Border constituency and (b) England.

Andrea Leadsom: We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry in England will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities where we know access can be particularly challenging.Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Unit of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28, supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care.

General Practitioners: Lincolnshire

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP surgeries in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire have closed since 2015.

Andrea Leadsom: The data provided shows that within the South Holland and the Deepings constituency, there have been no general practice (GP) closures. This includes those which have become branch practices, and is out of a total of 10 GPs across 14 sites, that were open at some point between January 2015 and March 2024. In the county of Lincolnshire, 17 GPs have closed, five of which have become branch practices. This is out of a total of 97 GPs across 126 sites, that were open at some point between January 2015 and March 2024.

Dental Health

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which integrated care boards have undertaken an oral health needs assessment.

Andrea Leadsom: From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of oral health need, inform local commissioning intentions, and determine the local priorities for investment. Information on which ICBs have undertaken Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, including oral health needs assessments, is not held centrally.

Dentistry: Migrant Workers

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support the General Dental Council increase the number of exam places for dentistry graduates who received their qualifications overseas to achieve an equivalent certification to permit them to practice in the UK.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department works closely with the General Dental Council (GDC) to support the efficient delivery of the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). The Department welcomed the GDC’s announcements on increasing the number of places available to sit the ORE. The GDC tripled the number of places available to sit the ORE Part 1, for all sittings from August 2023 to the end of 2024. The GDC also added an additional sitting of the ORE Part 2 in 2024, bringing the total number of sittings up to four. Together, these steps have created more than 1300 additional places across the two parts. These increases to capacity will enable individuals with overseas qualifications to more quickly have the opportunity to become registered dentists in the United Kingdom.In March 2024, the GDC implemented new rules relating to the ORE which will allow it to introduce new exam fees, with a view to making the ORE self-funding. The GDC’s procurement process for new ORE providers is also underway. We anticipate that these combined measures will allow the GDC to further increase ORE exam capacity in due course.

Dental Services: Closures

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that patients affected by unexpected closures of NHS dental practices can still access dental care.

Andrea Leadsom: We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities where we know access can be particularly challenging.Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28 supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care.Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles regularly, at least every 90 days, to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Elliot Colburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) lowering the breast cancer screening age to 40 and (b) including a breast cancer risk assessment in the first appointment.

Andrew Stephenson: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) currently recommends that all women aged 50 years old to 71 years old are invited for breast screening every three years. A trial, AgeX is looking at the impact of increasing or decreasing, or both, the screening age for the breast screening programme. When the results from this trial are available, the UK NSC will review the findings. The UK NSC plans to review the evidence for risk stratification in breast screening to tailor it more closely to an individual’s risk of cancer, rather than the current population-based approach.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Elliot Colburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) a risk assessment and (b) a breast density assessment during a women's first breast cancer screening appointment.

Andrew Stephenson: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) plans to review the evidence for risk stratification in breast screening, to tailor it more closely to an individual’s risk of cancer, rather than the current population-based approach. In 2019, the UK NSC reviewed the benefit of additional screening with ultrasound after a negative mammography screening, for women with dense breasts. The Committee concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend additional ultrasound screening at that time. The Breast Screening Risk Adaptive Imaging for Density trial is looking into the use of supplementary imaging techniques for women within the standard breast screening programme, who are found to have radiographically dense breast tissue. The UK NSC will review this evidence when it becomes available.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of musculoskeletal hubs in local communities.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government announced measures to address economic inactivity, as part of the 2023 Spring Budget. This included £12 million over a period of four years, from April 2024, to scale up Musculoskeletal (MSK) Physical Activity Hubs in the Community. The MSK Physical Activity Hubs in the Community project will seek to build on local practice and explore how to enable people with MSK conditions to access supportive physical activity interventions within local leisure and other community settings. This will also explore how to build in vocational support. We are currently engaging with stakeholders to expand our understanding of existing practice, and inform our approach to this project.

Prostate Cancer: Screening

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason there is no national screening programme for prostate cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) does not currently recommend screening for prostate cancer in the United Kingdom due to the inaccuracy of the current best test, called Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm men, as some of them would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects.The Government understands the importance of improving evidence around prostate screening and therefore we are providing £16 million of funding to Prostate Cancer UK's £42 million trial, which is aimed at helping us find a way of catching prostate cancer in men as early as possible.The UK NSC will consider the evidence for six possible approaches to targeted prostate screening for those at higher risk. The UK NSC will publish its recommendations when complete. The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme provides general practices with information to counsel asymptomatic men aged 50 years old about PSA testing for prostate cancer.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the uptake of breast cancer screening in (a) England and (b) Norwich.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government has invested £10 million of funding for the breast screening programme, which provided 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 upgrades, to be targeted at areas with the greatest challenges of uptake and coverage. NHS England has developed a national plan in collaboration with key stakeholders, to improve uptake within the breast screening programme. In the East of England, NHS England will work with the Breast Screening Service and the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board to undertake a gap analysis and prioritise actions, and to look at options to increase its resilience by working with other local providers as a network.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for which the NHS missed its target of 70% of invited women to be screened for breast cancer in 2022-23.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department is committed to improving uptake in the NHS Breast Screening Programme. NHS England has commissioned evaluative projects to look at ways to improve uptake, and to understand why women may not attend breast screening. These include: actively following up with women who have missed an appointment or not engaged with the service; looking at the reasons why women do not attend screenings, to address any barriers; and assessing the impact on screening uptake using different invitation methodologies with reference to factors such as age, previous screening history, including attendance at first invitation and subsequent invites, and deprivation. These projects are expected to report by April 2024.

Breast Cancer: Health Services

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on the Government's major conditions strategy with specific reference to breast cancer; and if she will make a statement.

Andrew Stephenson: In the development of the Major Conditions Strategy, we are considering how we improve outcomes for people in this country living with multiple conditions. Aligning work across several groups of conditions including cancer for this strategy, will allow us to focus on where there are similarities in approach and ensure care is better centred around the patient, maximising existing resources both within patient pathways and in integrating between pathways. Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including breast cancer, is a priority for the Government. The National Health Service has an ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028, which will help tens of thousands of people live for longer. We know that breast cancer remains the most common cancer in England, with over 49,000 people being diagnosed each year. Thanks to advances in screening, treatment, and care, alongside NHS awareness campaigns, more women are surviving the disease than ever before. The NHS Cancer Programme has also commissioned five new cancer clinical audits, including primary and metastatic breast cancers. These will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, will increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Elliot Colburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) 3D mammography and (b) other new screening technologies to support the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is aware of research into the use of three-dimensional (3D) mammography and the growing interest to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the National Health Service breast screening programme. Guidance has been published on GOV.UK on the use of Tomosynthesis 3D imaging in a clinical trial setting as part of the NHS breast screening programme.The UK NSC had also worked with Health Technology Assessments to design an evaluation of existing AI in a prospective study to look at whether it could be used to read breast screening mammograms.There are currently no plans to adopt these technologies, but evidence to inform a UK NSC decision on the use of 3D mammography and AI in the NHS breast screening programme will be reviewed by the Committee when available.

Breast Cancer: Health Education

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has plans to deliver a national awareness campaign on breast cancer screening.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department is currently exploring opportunities for national campaigns to support positive outcomes on women’s health. Work is underway to scope the feasibility of running a national campaign to support breast screening uptake, and this will be informed by pilot activity due to run in London in 2024/25.

Long Covid

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of people that have reported symptoms of long covid since March 2023.

Maria Caulfield: The Government does not currently routinely record the total number of people with long COVID, or new cases identified. However, the most recent data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that for the four week period ending 5 March 2023: 1.9 million people, or 2.9% of the population, in private households in the United Kingdom reported experiencing long COVID symptoms; 83,000 people first had, or suspected they had, COVID-19 less than 12 weeks previously; 1.73 million people had symptoms for 12 or more weeks, 1.3 million people for at least a year and 762,000 for at least two years; and 1.5 million people reported day-to-day activities adversely affected. Of these, 381,000 people reported that their ability to undertake day-to-day activities had been limited a lot.On 25 April 2024, the ONS will be publishing additional analysis from the fortnightly Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study, including data on trends in ongoing symptoms of COVID-19. This article will expand on the existing analysis published in the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study’s data tables, to look more in depth at trends in self-reported symptoms of COVID-19, including ongoing symptoms and associated risk factors.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency: Standards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to take steps to help increase productivity in the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help increase the capacity of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has received representations from the scientific community on the efficiency of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of funding provided to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to (a) monitor and (b) report on the performance of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Andrew Stephenson: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom. It achieves this through the expertise of its staff, and its assets of ground-breaking science, innovative regulation, and real-world data. Ministers receive regular updates on the performance of the MHRA. The agency is taking significant steps to assess licensing applications within the shortest time possible. It is working to reduce timelines by bringing in additional resources and developing processes that will result in significantly improved response times, while protecting patient safety. As an effective regulator, it is committed to the highest of standards of performance, and delivering the right outcomes for patients and public health. These changes are already resulting in improvements. The Department holds the MHRA to account for their work, including their performance and the impact of any organisational changes, through regular established mechanisms including quarterly and annual accountability reviews. The minutes of the latest Annual Accountability Review with the MHRA are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-accountability-review-mhra/annual-accountability-review-minutes-2022-to-2023-3-july-2023 The MHRA also publishes performance figures each month, and annually through their annual report and accounts. As set out in its 2023-26 Corporate Plan, the MHRA is committed to delivering predictable, optimised, and sustainable services, across all functions. As part of the 2023 Spring Budget, the MHRA also received £10 million of additional funding. This is to support the acceleration of routes for bringing innovative medical products developed in the UK onto the market, allowing the MHRA to capitalise on the expertise and decision-making of trusted regulatory partners. The Government is committed to supporting the MHRA to meet its statutory obligations. The Department receives regular feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. In 2023 the Department did receive representations from the scientific community, and industry, expressing concern about delays in the MHRA’s approvals of clinical trials. The MHRA has since improved its performance in this area, and there are currently no delays in approving clinical trials.

Medical Equipment

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussion she has had with NHS England on the reasons why reusable NHS equipment is not permitted to be returned and reissued to new patients.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) number and (b) type of reusable NHS medical equipment that has been sent to landfill in the past 12 months.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS Trusts have policies on reduction of landfill wastage of reusable NHS equipment.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department published the inaugural Medical Technology Strategy in February 2023, which included a focus on improving resource efficiency within the sector. Presently, through our Design for Life Programme, we are working with industry, the health and care system, and academic partners to explore options for developing medical technology systems that support reuse, remanufacture, and materials recovery by default. This includes developing regulatory, commercial, infrastructure, and policy environments that support this aim, with the intention of publishing a roadmap later this year.The NHS clinical waste strategy, published on 7 March 2023, sets out NHS England’s ambition to transform the management of clinical waste by eliminating unnecessary waste, finding innovative ways to reuse, and ensuring waste is processed in the most cost-effective, efficient, and sustainable way.NHS England has developed a waste planning tool consistent with this clinical waste strategy for all National Health Service providers, which includes improved segregation, waste minimisation, and increased reuse programmes. This will lead to reductions in the road miles which waste travels, increases in the use of re-usable sharps bins, and support plans made towards the achievement of Net Zero Carbon from waste management.As part of the Design for Life programme we recognise that in order to assess progress for reuse and waste prevention, we will need to define future data requirements and align digital infrastructure to improve the gathering of core data. As such, at this juncture, the Department does not have centralised data on the rates of disposal for reusable medical technologies, nor how many trusts have relevant waste prevention policies for these products.

Dementia: Health Services and Research

Dr Neil Hudson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of funding provided for dementia care and research.

Andrew Stephenson: We want a society where every person with dementia, and their families and carers, receive high quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life. Everyone with dementia should have meaningful care following their diagnosis. This includes information on local services and access to relevant advice and support on what happens next. Local authorities are required to provide or arrange services that meet the social care needs of the local population, including carers, under the Care Act 2014. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision of dementia care services, and NHS England expects ICBs to commission services based on local population needs. It is for individual ICBs to distribute funding at a local level.The Government is strongly committed to supporting research into dementia and has committed to doubling the funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by the end of 2024/25. The Department delivers research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and in 2022/23, the most recent year we have data for, we estimate that the total Government spend on dementia research was £96.9 million. The Department via the NIHR has instigated momentous new programmes of work, such as investing almost £50 million over five years into the NIHR Dementia Translational Research Collaboration Trial Network which will expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities in dementia, speeding up the development of new treatments.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Michael Shanks: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 1784 on Vladimir Kara-Murza, what progress his Department has made on securing the release of Vladimir Kara-Murza; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the sanctions on the 13 individuals related to this case.

Leo Docherty: The Government has consistently condemned Vladimir Kara-Murza's politically motivated conviction and called for his release since his arrest. The Foreign Secretary met Mr Kara-Murza's wife and mother on 1 March to discuss our approach. We continue to raise his case with the Russian authorities at every available opportunity in London and Moscow, and call for his immediate release on humanitarian grounds for urgent medical treatment, including at ambassadorial-level, and in multilateral fora, most recently at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and UN Human Rights Council. Our sanctions are targeted, based on information from a range of sources and we continue to keep them under review.

Armed Conflict: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his international counterparts on the need for renewed international obligations to protect children from conflict.

Leo Docherty: The UK recognises that protecting children from the effects of armed conflict is a moral, legal and strategic imperative, and essential in breaking the cycle of violence.We use our permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC) to ensure conflict-related child protection issues remain a key part of UNSC discussions.The UK remains firmly committed to protecting all children affected by armed conflict and holding all parties accountable for violations against children through our membership of the UN Security Council CAAC Working Group.

Yasin Malik

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on the case of Muhammed Yasin Malik.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: It is not for the UK to comment on an independent judicial process in another country.

Sri Lanka: Power Stations

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his Sri Lankan counterpart on water pollution around the Channakan power plant in the north of Sri Lanka.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We are aware of the challenges Sri Lanka faces around water management and quality, particularly by communities in the Northern Province. The British High Commission Colombo regularly meets a range of stakeholders in the Northern Province to hear their experiences and issues. A number of public bodies in Sri Lanka, including the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, have conducted tests into the water quality, after concerns were raised by local communities. The UK Government supports the International Water Management Institute, an international water management research organisation, to provide solutions to increasing water scarcity in Puttalam and Kilinochchi.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the statement from the Canadian Government entitled Canada announces continued assistance for people in Gaza, published on 8 March 2024, whether his Department has received the interim report of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We are aware that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services has released an interim report to the UN Secretary-General. We are pressing Catherine Colonna to produce a rapid interim report on the investigation into UNRWA's neutrality.We are working with allies to try to bring this situation to a rapid conclusion - not least because UNRWA have a vital role to play in providing aid and services in Gaza, and the wider region. We want UNRWA to give detailed undertakings about changes in personnel, policy and precedents to ensure this can never happen again.Any future funding decisions will be taken after UNRWA's review has concluded.

Sudan: Ceasefires

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help support a ceasefire in Sudan.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: On 8 March the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2724, led by the UK, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan during the month of Ramadan. The resolution also called on the warring parties to ensure safe, unhindered humanitarian access, including cross-border and cross-line access, and expressed support for the UN Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra. The UK continues to work with a wide range of countries and bodies, including traditional allies, Gulf and African partners, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the African Union and the UN, to realise this Resolution and make progress towards a sustained and meaningful peace process.

Department for Education

Free Schools

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will list the free schools that have opened since 2011 by (a) type of school, (b) opening date and (c) closing date.

Damian Hinds: The department publishes information about open free schools, including the date they opened. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development. On the Get Information about Schools site, it is possible, by using the filter of ‘free schools’ and ‘closed’ in a search function, to bring up a list of all free schools that are now closed. The site is available at: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Search?SelectedTab=Establishments.

Children: Communication

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of dysregulated parents or guardians on children's regulation at school.

Damian Hinds: The department has not made an assessment on the impact of dysregulated parents or guardians on children's regulation at school. The department recognises the importance of providing pupils with the right support at the right time to help them achieve the high standards of behaviour expected of them. The department’s recently updated ‘Behaviour in schools’ guidance advises schools on creating calm, safe and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected. It is important for schools to engage parents in their children’s education and the department trusts schools to develop approaches to engaging parents that are best suited to the local context of the school and individual families. The ‘Behaviour in schools’ guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools--2. There are a range of methods to support pupils who are experiencing anxiety or other forms of distress. The department has committed to offer all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. Training will enable leads to introduce effective whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing, including the consideration of the support interventions provided in school and the training needs of staff. Over 15,100 settings have claimed a grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools. For those pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the ‘SEND code of practice’ sets out that all schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’, which means identifying a child’s needs, implementing appropriate support and reviewing it regularly. Schools should involve pupils and their parents at each of these stages, taking their perspectives into account and keeping them informed about what support is in place. The department expects schools and local authorities to consider the individual circumstances of each pupil and family and take the best course of action to support them. The ‘SEND code of practice’ can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.

Schools: Universities

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason her Department has included Russell Group progression as a measure in school performance data and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of this inclusion on (a) schools and (b) non-Russell Group universities.

Damian Hinds: The percentage of students progressing to Russell Group universities metric provides useful information to parents and students about which schools and colleges support their students to go on to study at this group of research intensive institutions. This is a supplementary measure to the department’s main headline and top-level additional destination measures. Russell Group is a term which is widely understood. Most Russell Group universities are in the top third higher education institutions. The department keeps all measures under regular review.

Department for Education: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people work in her Department's (a) Human Resources and Transformation Directorate and (b) Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) team; and whether the PSED team is part of the Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.

Damian Hinds: Every department across government has a responsibility for equalities. Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), all public authorities, including government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. The government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers.The Minister for the Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course. As at the end of February 2024 there were 156 people working in the department’s Human Resources and Transformation Directorate. The PSED team is not part of the department’s Human Resources and Transformation Directorate.The ‘general duty’ of the PSED is in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and requires public authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to give due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.The department's PSED team sits within the department's central Strategy Group and ensures that the department is compliant with Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The PSED team is resourced by 0.8 FTE. In addition, the department, through the PSED team, has a model of maintaining dispersed capacity across the department to comply with its duties.

Special Educational Needs

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to tackle regional disparities in (a) the identification of and (b) access to support for SEND.

David Johnston: In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, the department set out plans to build a consistent national SEND and AP system which parents and carers can trust, easily navigate and have confidence in, wherever they live in the country.The foundation for the new, nationally consistent SEND and AP system will be the new evidenced-based National Standards for the early and accurate identification of need and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will include clarifying the types of support that should be available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support.This will help families, practitioners and providers understand what support every child or young person should be receiving from early years through to further education, no matter where they live or what their needs are. By the end of 2025, the department will publish a significant proportion of the National Standards.New local SEND and AP partnerships will support this work by bringing together Education, Health and Care partners with local government to produce evidence-based Local Area Inclusion Plans. These plans will set out how to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and in AP in the local area, in line with National Standards.The department is testing and refining reforms through its Change Programme to collect evidence about what works for children and young people with SEND and their families at a local level. The department is working with 32 local authorities and their local areas in each of the nine regions.

School Rebuilding Programme: Contracts

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many contracts have been awarded via the school rebuilding programme; and if she will make a comparative estimate of this figure with her Department's planned projections.

Damian Hinds: The School Rebuilding Programme was announced in 2020 and will transform buildings at 500 schools and sixth-form colleges over the next decade. It will rebuild or refurbish poor condition buildings, providing modern designs, with new buildings being net zero carbon in operation. The department has selected 513 schools for the programme to date, and is on track to commence delivery of these schools at a rate of 50 per year. Several rebuilding projects have already completed under the programme, with many more at various stages of delivery. The department remains committed to rebuilding or refurbishing schools already selected for the School Rebuilding Programme. The department has awarded 50 contracts. This is in line with the forecast. Details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.

Free School Meals

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2023 to Question 165185 on Free School Meals, what the complex data, systems, financial and legal implications are of a government-led rollout of automatic enrolment for all eligible children.

Damian Hinds: ​​​As previously communicated, the department has looked at auto-enrolment and considers there to be merit in local authorities exploring initiatives to maximise take up and to better understand the barriers that prevent such take up, whilst also ensuring adherence to legal and data protection constraints, which still remain an important consideration. These include constraints around data-sharing, as well as the need for families to make a claim for free school meals to be eligible under the current process. The department continues to engage with key stakeholders in this area, noting the methods currently being trialled across a number of local authorities to increase and maximise take up.

Apprentices: Young People

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to encourage young people to undertake a foundation apprenticeship on leaving school.

Robert Halfon: Apprenticeships offer brilliant opportunities for school leavers, with over 690 high-quality apprenticeship standards available across all sectors of the economy and at all levels, including 368 standards at levels 2 and 3. The department has a range of work underway to promote and support young people into apprenticeships, and it is encouraging to see that starts by under-19s so far this academic year have increased by 6% on the same period last year.Students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their UCAS Hub, and our Career Starter Apprenticeships campaign is promoting apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 which offer great opportunities for those looking for their first role after leaving full-time education. The department also continues to invest around £3.2 million annually in the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme which ensures students are aware of the benefits of apprenticeships, with over 620,000 student interactions across 2,300 schools and further education colleges in the 2022/23 academic year.In addition, the department continues to pay £1,000 to employers and providers when they take on apprentices aged 16-18, and the care leavers bursary has tripled to £3,000 to help even more young people to access and complete apprenticeships.

Health Education: Children and Young People

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that public health education is delivered to children and young people who are (a) not in school and (b) at particular risk from harm from (i) use of (A) nitrous oxide, (B) drugs and (C) alcohol and (ii) other public health concerns.

Damian Hinds: Parents have a right to educate their children at home and must provide a full time, efficient, and suitable education if the child is of compulsory school age. The government supports this right. There are no specific legal requirements as to the content of home education, provided the education provided is full-time, efficient and suitable. This means that education does not need to include any particular subjects and does not need to have any reference to the national curriculum. The government’s elective home education guidance sets out eight components that local authorities should consider when determining whether a child is receiving a suitable education. The department intends to provide further information on what should be considered when determining ‘suitable education’ as part of the consultation to review elective home education guidance, which closed on 18 January. Responses are being analysed and the department will publish the revised guidance and consultation response in due course. Part of the government’s strategy to reduce the harm of drugs is Frank, which is the number one drugs information site in England, and reaches audiences from 11 to 54+ supporting pre-users, regular users, concerned others and schools with information on drugs. Frank receives over 5 million page visits per year, and is updated to reflect new and emerging patterns of drug use, including the effects and risks of nitrous oxide. The Frank service remains a key element in providing accurate and factual advice on the risks and effects of a range of drugs and alcohol, as well as broader advice around substance abuse, including sign posting to relevant services. The Frank helpline is available, 24/7, 365 days of the year. Their trained advisors deal with, on average, 100,000, calls, emails, texts and webchats per annum, providing a help service for people who are concerned about their own or others’ drugs consumption. There is also a separate line for alcohol abuse calls, and the Frank agents will seamlessly deal with those as part of the same call.

Apprentices

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage people to undertake a higher level apprenticeship on completion of an apprenticeship.

Robert Halfon: Higher-level apprenticeships offer great opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, from those starting out in their career to those looking to upskill or retrain, with over 320 apprenticeship standards at Levels 4 to 7.Each apprenticeship standard covers a distinct occupation. Although learners do not need to have completed an apprenticeship at a lower level to start a higher-level apprenticeship, the department is continuing to promote career progression through apprenticeships.The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education publishes occupational maps which show how apprenticeships and technical education support progression in each sector. This is available at: https://occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org/.To help more people benefit from the high-quality training that higher-level apprenticeships offer, the department is investing £40 million over the next two years to expand degree apprenticeships and students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their UCAS Hub alongside undergraduate courses.

Schools: Religion

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) new and (b) existing schools have built designated multi-faith areas since 2010.

Damian Hinds: The department does not collect or hold data about the construction of designated multi-faith areas by schools. It is the department’s understanding that the vast majority schools which provide multi-faith areas do so by using existing spaces such as classrooms and assembly halls.

Children in Care

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of children that are looked-after.

David Johnston: The latest information on the number of children looked after in England on 31 March 2023 can be found in the annual statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.

Special Educational Needs: Lincolnshire

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision of services for children with special educational needs and disabilities in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

David Johnston: A joint local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection of Lincolnshire was undertaken by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in October 2018. At the time, inspectors identified no significant areas of weakness in SEND services. The inspection covered all of Lincolnshire including South Holland and the Deepings constituency. Ofsted launched a new framework for area SEND inspections in January 2023. This framework introduced a continuous cycle of inspections, where each local area will have at least one full area SEND inspection within five years of the launch of the framework. Lincolnshire will be inspected under this framework in due course.

Special Educational Needs: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of trauma informed schools for (a) children with SEND, mental health challenges and childhood trauma and (b) other students.

David Johnston: Schools have the flexibility to decide what pastoral support they provide to best meet the individual needs of all their pupils, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), mental health challenges or who have experienced trauma. However, the department recommends a whole-school approach as the most effective way to promote and support mental health and wellbeing for all pupils, including those who may be particularly vulnerable. The department’s guidance on the principles of a whole school or college approach recognises the importance of an individualised response to pupil needs, and can help contribute towards creating a safe environment for those who have experienced trauma and adverse experiences. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing. To help settings embed a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing, the department is offering funded senior mental health lead training to all state schools and colleges, including special and alternative provision settings. This training covers the range of mental health issues likely to be encountered in schools and colleges and the risk factors associated with specific groups, including children with special educational needs and who have experienced trauma, to support leads to understand and plan appropriate responses to pupils’ mental health and wellbeing needs. Over 15,100 settings have received a training grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state secondary schools. Additionally, a range of department guidance makes clear the need for school staff to be aware of adverse childhood experiences, including trauma, and the potential impact on children. ‘Keeping children safe in education’ is statutory guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2. The department’s mental health and behaviour guidance also recommends school staff be aware of how potentially traumatic childhood experiences can impact on children’s behaviour and education and the importance of schools providing early support to pupils at such times. It signposts to further information on supporting children through difficult life events. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2. Finally, the SEND Code of Practice sets out that all schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’, which means identifying a child’s needs, implementing appropriate support and reviewing it regularly. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25. Schools should involve pupils and their parents at each of these stages. The department expects schools and local authorities to consider the individual circumstances of each pupil and family and take the best course of action to support them.

Carers: Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support kinship carers in Romford constituency.

David Johnston: In December 2023, the department published Championing Kinship Care, the first ever national kinship care strategy. The department is investing £20 million of funding in financial year 2024/25 for Championing Kinship Care, to help move towards a children’s social care system with kinship at its heart.It may be helpful to look at Kinship’s website to see whether there are local peer to peer support groups being delivered for kinship carers in Romford. The website can be found here: https://compass.kinship.org.uk/groups/.

Children: Mental Health

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that there is someone in every school that a child who is (a) anxious and (b) in distress can spend time with if they are de-regulated in their (i) behaviour and (ii) emotions.

David Johnston: The department is committed to ensuring schools and colleges are safe, calm and supportive learning environments which promote and support mental wellbeing. This can bring a range of benefits for both staff and pupils. For example, they may support pupils to self-regulate and remove sources of anxiety and distress from their environment.The department knows that there are a range of methods to support pupils who are experiencing anxiety or other forms of distress. It is important that schools retain flexibility to choose interventions that suit their pupils and local context, for example having support staff available specifically to support pupils experiencing dysregulation.The department encourages schools to consider support of this kind as part of an effective whole school approach to mental wellbeing and have committed to offer all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. Training will enable leads to introduce effective whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing, including the consideration of the support interventions provided in school and the training needs of staff. Over 15,100 settings that have claimed a grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools.The department also provides guidance on ‘Behaviour in Schools’ which is the primary source of help and support for schools in developing and implementing a school culture where both pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.

Schools: Discipline

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that policies on (a) behaviour and (b) discipline in school do not escalate a child's distress.

Damian Hinds: Pupil behaviour is a priority for the government. No pupil should miss out on education because they feel unsafe, because their lesson is disrupted, or fall behind because their needs are not identified and supported. In July 2022, the department published the updated ‘Behaviour in schools guidance’, which is the primary source of help and support for schools on developing and implementing a behaviour policy that can create a school culture with high expectations of behaviour. Schools should ensure that high standards and expectations of good behaviour pervade all aspects of school life, creating calm, safe and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected. The department trusts school leaders to develop tailored behaviour policies that reflect their school’s individual contexts and needs. Any school behaviour policy must be lawful, proportionate and reasonable and comply with the school’s duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Account must be taken of a pupil’s age, any special educational needs or disability they may have, and any religious requirements affecting them. Within these legal parameters, it is then for individual schools to develop their own policies.

Home Education

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure children not in school develop safe and secure relationships with (a) other pupils and (b) adult mentors.

Damian Hinds: Parents have a right to educate their children at home and must provide a full-time, efficient, suitable education if the child is of compulsory school age. The government supports this right. Parents may provide education in whatever form they wish provided it is full-time, efficient, and suitable. The government’s elective home education guidance sets out eight components that local authorities should consider when determining whether a child is receiving a suitable education, which includes very marked isolation as a possible indicator for unsuitability. Most parents will arrange for their children to undertake activities or trips away from the home, including as part of groups of home-educated children or at settings that allow for socialising with other children. Parents may also arrange for parts of education to be delivered by other individuals or settings, such as private tutors, though the parents will retain the overall responsibility to ensure that the education being received is suitable. The department intends to provide further information on what should be considered when determining ‘suitable education’ as part of our consultation to review our elective home education guidance, which closed on 18 January. Responses are being analysed and we will publish the revised guidance and consultation response in due course. Local authorities have duties to ensure all children in their area are receiving a suitable education. They have powers to make enquiries with parents as to whether a suitable education appears to be being provided. If home education appears not to be suitable, then the local authority must commence the school attendance order process by first issuing a preliminary notice. Local authorities have the same safeguarding responsibilities for children educated at home as for other children.

Free School Meals: Universal Credit

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the eligibility threshold for means-tested free school meals for Universal Credit recipients in line with (a) inflation and (b) national living wage increases.

Damian Hinds: Over 2 million pupils are currently eligible for benefits based free school meals (FSM). Close to 1.3 million additional infants receive free and nutritious meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy.A threshold must be set somewhere, and the department believes that the current eligibility threshold level, which enables pupils in low-income households to benefit from FSM while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.The department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for FSM. However, the department continues to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to capture data on the reasons for children not being in school settings.

Damian Hinds: Ensuring that children are in school is a top priority for the government. As part of the comprehensive national attendance strategy to ensure that every child registered at school attends every day, the department has a daily data scheme to understand the drivers for absence. The local authority level data is published fortnightly and made available to schools and local authorities at a pupil level and is some of the richest and most timely attendance data in the world. Participation in the daily data scheme will become mandatory for all state-funded schools from September 2024. The latest data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.The department also collects information about the reason for placement into alternative provision (AP) by schools and local authorities through the school census and the AP census. This includes placements into non-school alternative provision settings.For those children who are not enrolled at a school, the department collects termly data on home educated children and children missing education from local authorities, doing so on a voluntary basis since October 2022, with the collection becoming mandatory this autumn. Analysis of the data will help to improve understand of the drivers behind the rise in children not in school. The data for home educated children can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education. The data for children missing education can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education.

Teachers: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to (a) ensure that teacher training is using a trauma-informed approach to educating new teachers and (b) assess the adequacy of the delivery of that approach.

Damian Hinds: The mandatory initial teacher training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) (2019) sets out the minimum entitlement of knowledge, skills and experiences that all trainees need to enter the profession in the best position possible to teach and support their pupils. This core content must be covered in full for all ITT courses that lead to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). A link to the framework can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974307/ITT_core_content_framework_.pdf.It is for accredited ITT providers to incorporate the CCF into curriculum that are appropriate to the needs of trainees, and to adapt them for the subject, phase and age range that the trainees will be teaching. ITT courses must be designed so that, by the end of the course, teacher trainees can demonstrate that they meet all the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes Teachers’ Standard 5, which requires teachers to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils and to have a secure understanding of how a range of factors can inhibit pupil’s ability to learn, and how best to overcome these. Following the award of QTS, all early career teachers are entitled to a two year induction underpinned by the Early Career Framework (ECF). In 2023, the department undertook a review of the CCF and ECF, and in January 2024, the new ITTECF was published. From September 2025, this new framework combines and replaces the CCF and ECF into one framework, which sets out the training entitlement during ITT and the two year induction. The department worked closely with the Education Endowment Foundation to ensure the ITTECF is framed around the best available evidence of what defines great teaching. Trauma informed practice is an emerging field of research and the evidence base is still developing. The quality of ITT provision is assessed through Ofsted’s routine inspections of accredited ITT providers. Ofsted provide critical and independent quality assurance of all ITT provision that leads to QTS.

Pupil Exclusions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) identify students who are at risk of school exclusion and (b) make (i) early interventions and (ii) trauma informed approaches to ensure that their needs are met.

Damian Hinds: The department supports head teachers in using suspension and permanent exclusion as a sanction as part of creating calm, safe, and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.The department has published guidance on ‘Behaviour in Schools’, ‘Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools’, and ‘Suspension and Permanent Exclusion’, which is the primary source of help and support for schools on how to manage behaviour for all pupils in the school community, to create a culture with high expectations of behaviour. The ‘Behaviour in Schools’ guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65ce3721e1bdec001a3221fe/Behaviour_in_schools_-_advice_for_headteachers_and_school_staff_Feb_2024.pdf. The ‘Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools’ guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/625ee6148fa8f54a8bb65ba9/Mental_health_and_behaviour_in_schools.pdf. The ‘Suspension and Permanent Exclusion’ guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1181584/Suspension_and_permanent_exclusion_guidance_september_23.pdf.The department does not endorse any one approach to behaviour management over another. The department trusts school leaders to develop tailored behaviour policies which reflect their school’s individual contexts and needs. Any policy must be lawful, proportionate, and reasonable and comply with the school’s duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the Education and Inspections Act 2006.The ‘Behaviour in Schools and Exclusion’ guidance is also clear that head teachers should consider any underlying causes of misbehaviour before issuing any exclusion, including where a pupil has a history of trauma. Early intervention measures should include an assessment of whether appropriate provision is in place to support any special educational needs and disabilities. The ‘Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools’ guidance also makes clear that recognising emerging issues as early as possible, and working effectively with external agencies to provide support for pupils who display persistent disruptive behaviour, and are at risk of exclusion, is vital.

Religion: Education

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 41 of the Annual Report of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2022-23, published on 23 November 2023, what steps her Department is taking (a) improve the quality of and (b) coordinate stakeholder work on improving religious education in schools.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 41 of the Annual Report of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2022-23, published on 23 November 2023, if he will publish additional non-statutory guidance on religious education syllabus content in schools.

Damian Hinds: Religious education (RE) is an important part of a school’s curriculum and can contribute to a young person’s personal, social, and academic development. When done well, it can develop children’s knowledge of British values and traditions, help them better understand those of other countries, and refine pupils’ ability to construct well-informed, balanced, and structured arguments. This is why is it remains a compulsory subject in all state-funded schools in England for each pupil up to the age of 18.The department read Ofsted’s 2023 annual report with interest and is committed to ensuring high-quality provision of RE in schools. In order to improve teaching quality, we are offering a £10,000 bursary for RE trainee teachers starting initial teacher training courses in the academic year 2024/25. The department have published this information on the ‘Get Into Teaching’ website and will be marketing the offer to prospective teachers through other channels.To support teachers when they are in post, and to ensure high standards and consistency of RE teaching, RE resources will be procured by Oak National Academy during the second tranche of its work. Oak will work closely with the sector and utilise sector experience when producing new materials for RE. This will ensure that high-quality lessons are available nationwide, benefitting both teachers and pupils, should schools opt to use them. Oak RE resources will be available for teaching from autumn 2024, with full packages expected to be available by autumn 2025.The department also continues to offer eight-week subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses in the academic year 2023/24 for candidates who have the potential to become outstanding teachers but need to increase their subject knowledge. The eight-week SKE course, available in religious education, can be undertaken on a full-time or part-time basis but must be completed before qualified teacher status can be recommended and awarded. Eligible candidates could be entitled to a SKE bursary of £175 per week to support them financially whilst completing their SKE course.More information on these courses is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/subject-knowledge-enhancement-an-introduction.The department engages closely with key stakeholders within the RE sector, including the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Education (NASACRE) and the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE). The department also welcomes the work that the Religious Education Council (REC) has done to assist curriculum developers by publishing its National Content Standard for RE in England.The department has no plans to publish additional non-statutory guidance on RE syllabus content in schools.

Home Office

Crimes of Violence: Victims

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to introduce a strategy to fund specialist services to support victims of violence that are (a) disabled, (b) an ethnic minority, (c) a religious minority, (d) identify as being LGBTQIA+ and (e) with no recourse to public funds.

Laura Farris: The Home Office and Ministry of Justice have committed to a joint 'by and for' fund for services across England and Wales. The fund is providing £5.9m to organisations supporting marginalised groups affected by violence against women and girls (VAWG) over two years to March 2025. This includes organisations supporting victims from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled victims, and LGBT victims. ‘By and for’ services are specialist services that are led, designed, and delivered by and for the users and communities they aim to serve. Additionally, Police and Crime Commissioners receive annual grant funding to commission local victim services, including specialist 'by and for' services, based on an assessment of local needs.

Immigration

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people had Section 67 leave to remain on 14 March 2024; how many and what proportion of those people had been contacted by his Department to discuss their options for when their leave expires by 14 March 2024; and what guidance his Department has issued on the options available to people when their Section 67 leave expires.

Tom Pursglove: Section 67 leave is a form of leave introduced in the Immigration Rules for eligible children transferred to the UK under Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. The Home Office has not published data on how many people had Section 67 leave to remain on 14 March 2024. The Immigration Rules are clear that individuals with Section 67 leave can apply for indefinite leave to remain once their leave to remain ceases, provided they meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules. Individuals can also seek advice from an independent legal representative about their options. The published guidance for Section 67 leave can be found here: Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 asylum casework guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk). The Home Office is currently in the process of updating that guidance and will publish a revised version in due course.

International Corruption Unit: Labour Turnover

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the (a) number and proportion of permanent staff in the National Crime Agency's International Corruption Unit who were in the unit for more than 12 months and (b) staff attrition rate from that unit in the last two financial years.

Tom Tugendhat: The International Corruption Unit (ICU) is the dedicated team within the NCA that investigates serious criminal allegations of bribery and corruption.We are unable to disclose the number of staff employed in the ICU as that information is operationally sensitive. However, in 2022/23, 86% of staff had been in the unit for more than 12 months. In 2021/22 it was 84% of staff.The ICU staff annual attrition rate was recorded at 5.5% in both 2021/22 and 2022/23.Due to complexities on deriving the figure, the NCA is unable to provide the average years of staff service.

International Corruption Unit: Staff

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of full-time equivalent staff in the National Crime Agency International Corruption Unit (a) in total and (b) who were funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's UK Action Against Corruption programme between 7 December 2009 and 31 March 2023.

Tom Tugendhat: The International Corruption Unit (ICU) was not formed until 2015, so we do not hold any information prior to this date.We are unable to disclose the number of staff employed in the ICU as that information is operationally sensitive. However, as of March 2024 the percentage of staff in the ICU, funded by the FCDO UK Action Against Corruption Programme, is 76%.This is broadly comparable over the programme’s funding period.

Immigration: Public Appointments

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his timetable is for recruiting a Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.

Michael Tomlinson: The process to recruit a new Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration follows the principles set out within the Cabinet Office Governance Code on Public Appointments:Governance Code on Public Appointments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).The competition opened on 21 February, and the closing date for applications is 2 April 2024. Our intention is to make the appointment as soon as possible, and an indicative timetable is available on the Public Appointments website:Search and apply – Apply for a public appointment – GOV.UK (apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk).

Bank Services: Freezing of Assets

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of financial institutions he expects to participate in the suspended accounts scheme.

Tom Tugendhat: We are committed to developing a scheme that satisfies the objectives of both industry and government and it will be open to members across the whole financial sector.As a voluntary scheme, we are currently working closely with the financial sector on the detail, to ensure that it is attractive to as many participants as possible.

Asylum

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers were charged with a criminal offence since entering the UK in each year since 2015.

Michael Tomlinson: The best department to approach for information on charging is the Ministry of Justice.

Offenders: Foreign Nationals

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders were (a) subject to deportation action and (b) living in the community by the length of time since the end of their custodial sentence as of 1 March 2024.

Michael Tomlinson: The Home Office does publish statistics on foreign national offenders (FNOs) subject to deportation action and living in the community by the length of time since the end of their custodial sentence. This is available from Table FNO_08 in: Immigration Enforcement data: Q4 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The latest data is published to September 2022.

Home Office: Training

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether officials in his Department with responsibility for engaging with hon. Members are given training on the types of visas that are available.

Tom Pursglove: Officials responsible for engaging with Hon. Members are required to complete an initial 12-week training programme, which includes training on the visa routes available.Following the initial training programme, officials are subject to assurance checks on all their work until they are assessed to meet the required quality standard.Ongoing development ensures that officials keep their understanding of immigration routes up to date.

Visas: Ukraine

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Ukrainian nationals can extend their stay by (a) 18 months and (b) three years.

Tom Pursglove: To provide future certainty, on 18 February we announced that existing Ukraine scheme visa holders who live mainly in the UK, will be able to apply for further permission to remain in the UK for an additional 18 months.The Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme provides the same rights and entitlements to access work, benefits, healthcare, and education as the other Ukraine schemes. Those eligible to apply will not be required to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge. Further details on eligibility and application processes will be available before the scheme opens for applications early next year.The Ukraine Extension Scheme was introduced for those Ukrainians already in the UK at the time of the invasion and who could not return to Ukraine. It provides three years’ temporary sanctuary aligned to the other Ukraine schemes. Those who have been granted permission by 16 November 2023 will have until 16 May 2024 to submit an application under the UES.

Visas: Skilled Workers

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many certificates of sponsorship were issued to (a) the NHS, (b) local authorities and (c) independent or charitable organisations in each of the last three years.

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken to process applications for certificates of sponsorships was in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps his Department has taken to reduce time take to process those applications.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office does not routinely publish data on these matters; however, we have recently deployed an IT change which introduces a new compulsory field for required mandatory information which enables defined Certificate of Sponsorship applications to move more expediently through the system.

Aviation: Facilities

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is taking steps to increase border security at aerodromes.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to reduce contraband entering the UK through aerodromes.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office’s priority is to deliver a safe and secure border and we will never compromise on this. Border Force maintain 100% checks for all scheduled arriving passengers into the UK. Border Force performs checks on passengers arriving at the UK border and risk-based intelligence led checks on goods, enabling interventions against those known or suspected to pose a risk to the national interest.Border Force has reduced the number of aerodromes able to handle flights to and from the UK as of 1 January 2024. From 3135 aerodromes in GB, now only 16% are designated to facilitate international and CTA flights. This will continue to have a positive impact on Border Force operations. Routine work continues at aerodromes, enabling Border Force to carry out customs duties as laid out in CEMA (Customs & Excise Management Act).

Asylum: Rwanda

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Rwanda were granted asylum on (a) human rights and (b) other grounds in each year since 2010.

Tom Pursglove: The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Those who need protection are normally granted refugee status or humanitarian protection. The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum decisions by nationality are published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum Applications, Decisions and Resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to 2023. All asylum and human rights claims lodged from within the UK and admitted to the UK asylum system, including those seeking asylum from Rwanda, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, and against the background of relevant case law, policy guidance and the latest available country of origin information.

Offenders: Deportation

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers were deported after having been found to have committed a criminal offence (a) in the UK since entering the country and (b) in a foreign country prior to entering the UK since 2010.

Michael Tomlinson: The Home Office does publish statistics on enforced returns for those who have claimed asylum since 2010. These returns are published in table RET_05 of the returns summary table which can be found at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).Asylum-related returns in this summary relate to cases where there has been an asylum claim at some stage prior to the return. This will include asylum seekers whose asylum claims have been withdrawn, refused, and who have exhausted any rights of appeal, those returned under third country provisions, as well as those granted asylum/protection, but removed for other reasons (such as criminality). Asylum-related returns broken down by status is not available from published statistics.Additionally, the published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily. Figures on deportations, which are a subset of enforced returns, are not separately available.Furthermore, information on someone that has been deported after having been found to have committed a criminal offence in a foreign country prior to entering the UK since 2010 is not separately available from published statistics.

Hate Crime: Restricted Growth

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the prevalence of abuse of people of restricted growth.

Laura Farris: We have a robust legislative framework to respond to all forms of hate crime, including those which target a person’s disability.Whilst the police are operationally independent and work in line with the College of Policing’s operational guidance to respond to hate crime, we expect them to fully investigate these offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.The Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 1% reduction in disability hate crime compared with the previous year. However, any instance is one too many and we remain absolutely committed to ensuring these offences are stamped out.A person of restricted growth is not necessarily a disabled person. A disability hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability or perceived disability, or any disability including physical disability, learning disability and mental health or developmental disorders. This will be a question of fact in each case.Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. We delivered our commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by March 2023 and there are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, which is higher than the previous peak in March 2010 before the Police Uplift Programme.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Public Lavatories: Planning Permission

Sarah Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps through the planning system to help increase the number of changing places toilets.

Jacob Young: Changing Places toilets were created to meet the needs of disabled children and adults with complex care needs who need carer support, appropriate equipment, and more space. A standard Changing Places toilet is at least 12m² and provides specialist equipment including a height adjustable adult sized changing bench, ceiling hoist and peninsular toilet.In 2020 the Government changed the building regulation to ensure that all new builds with a larger capacity were required to install a Changing Places Toilets. All those buildings that fall outside of paragraph 5.7e of the Approved Document M, Volume 2 of the building rules are within scope for the funding delivered by DLUHC.

Private Rented Housing: Databases

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using the Property Portal to record accessibility information on private sector dwellings.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the (a) challenges faced by disabled renters in the private rented sector and (b) potential impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on tackling those challenges.

Jacob Young: The Government is committed to helping disabled people to live independently and safely in their home. The Renters (Reform) Bill will help improve the quality of privately rented homes by introducing a Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector for the first time. This will ensure tenants, including those with disabilities, benefit from homes that are safe and decent.Through the abolition of Section 21 evictions, the Bill will give all tenants greater security in their home and will empower disabled tenants to challenge poor practice and request home adaptations where they are needed, without worrying about retaliatory eviction by their landlord. The Bill will also create a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman which tenants can complain to if they think their landlord unreasonably refused permission to make an adaptation to their home. The Bill will also make practices by landlords and/or those acting on their behalf which discriminate against those who receive benefits, including disability benefits, illegal.We are working with a range of stakeholders to understand what information is important to tenants when using the property portal and will outline this in regulations.

Supported Housing

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on publishing national supported housing standards under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.

Felicity Buchan: The Government is determined to improve standards in supported housing, which is why – thanks to my Hon Friend the Member for Harrow East - the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 provides for National Supported Housing Standards, which will be enforced through a licensing regime across all local authorities in England. In developing these standards, my department is engaging extensively including with residents of supported housing and people with lived experience. The Government will be consulting formally on the proposed National Supported Housing Standards in due course.

Housing: Cambridge

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the (a) quality of and (b) availability of the water supply on the viability of the Cambridge 2040 plan.

Lee Rowley: At the Spring Budget 2024, the Government published a policy paper setting out its ambition to address water challenges in Greater Cambridge and measures to achieve this. Further information can be found here.The Government also published a joint statement from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency, and Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service, signalling the intention to work together to support successful delivery of these measures.

Councillors

Sir Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support is available for parish councillors who are abused while representing their communities.

Simon Hoare: It is vital that councillors feel able to raise concerns about intimidation and abuse, and that those in leadership positions in councils take these seriously and deal with them appropriately.The Local Government Association’s work on Civility in Public Life includes resources to support good standards of behaviour and advice on how to handle issues of abuse and intimidation.I would be happy to pass on further details to my Rt Hon Friend.

Absent Voting: Fraud

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to reduce postal voting fraud.

Simon Hoare: Postal voting is well established and popular with many electors, who find it a convenient way to vote. However, we need to be vigilant in ensuring that the processes are not exploited by those who would seek to deprive others of their democratic rights.We have recently brought in a number of measures to strengthen the security of postal voting via the Elections Act 2022. These include: a requirement for identity checking, usually via National Insurance number, when applying for a postal ballot; a three-year limit on how long a postal voting arrangement can be held; and banning political campaigners from handling postal ballots, delivering our manifesto commitment to stop so-called “vote harvesting”.

Housing: Greater London

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of (a) financial pressures facing London local authority Housing Revenue Accounts and (b) the analysis by Savill's reported in the briefing entitled Housing Revenue Account financial pressures, published by London Councils on 15 December 2023.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the (a) role of the Regulator of Social Housing and (b) Decent Homes Standard on London council Housing Revenue Accounts.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of arrangements to fund the (a) training and (b) qualifications of London council staff under the Regulator for Social Housing's new regulatory regime through council Housing Revenue Accounts.

Jacob Young: The department has noted the analysis by Savill’s and has regular engagement with councils, including in London.The department does not economically regulate local authority registered providers’ HRA finances but does work with local authorities and representative bodies to examine the problems that are common to all landlords, and to gain intelligence from practitioners on measures that have been taken locally, and how these might be adapted to the wider environment. Nonetheless, it is for councils to meet their statutory responsibilities to keep their homes to a safe, decent standard. The revised consumer standards and changes to the role of the Regulator of Social Housing will help to ensure that happens. Local authorities have wide discretion on how to prioritise their spending within the HRA to meet their statutory and other commitments.The regulatory changes which come into effect on 1 April have been assessed to be affordable to the sector. Impact assessments were published for the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, the publication of the revised consumer standards, and for the ongoing consultation on competence and conduct requirements. All future regulatory changes, including to the Decent Homes Standard, will also be subject to consultation and impact assessment.The impact assessment for the revised consumer standards can be found here: Annex 5: Regulatory impact assessment, and the draft impact assessment for competence and conduct requirements is available here: Annex C: Impact assessment.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to replace the Shared Prosperity Fund when that fund comes to an end in March 2025.

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what representations he has received from recipients of funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund in Northern Ireland on the future of their programmes after March 2025.

Jacob Young: I have received no formal representations from recipients of UK Shared Prosperity Fund monies in Northern Ireland to date. However, I recognise that UKSPF plays a significant role in supporting important provision across Northern Ireland, and in the normal course of business, my officials are regularly engaging with project deliverers and partners on this issue.As with all Government funding, decisions regarding the future of UKSPF after the end of the current programme in March 2025 are a matter of the next spending review, so we are currently unable to outline specific plans at this stage. We recognise the need for those delivering UKSPF to have certainty as to its future and are committed to setting out further detail in due course.My officials are regularly engaging with project leads and partners on this issue.

East West Rail Line: Property Development

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to plan for development of housing and commercial developments along the route of East West Rail.

Lee Rowley: As announced at Spring Budget 2023, the Government is providing up to £15 million to local authorities to enable them to begin planning for growth and development enabled by East-West Rail.

Housing Estates: Construction

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with local authorities on ensuring that residents do not live on estates without completed works of estate adoption.

Lee Rowley: Respecting the established framework of devolution of powers and responsibilities to local government it is mainly for developers and local planning authorities to agree appropriate managing and funding arrangements for developments with common areas or shared services. The Government is also closely examining the findings of the Competition and Market Authority report that was published on 26 February.Simultaneously, the Government is making estate management companies more accountable to existing homeowners for how their money is spent. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make sure that existing homeowners who pay estate management charges have the right to challenge their reasonableness and to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager to manage the provision of services. On freehold estates reform more generally, we understand the strength of feeling on this issue and we are considering it further.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Maladministration

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to pages 31 and 32 of the report entitled Cross-Government Fraud Landscape: Annual Report 2022, published on 21 March 2023, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in detected error in his Department from £0.0m in 2019-20 to £0.2m in 2020-21.

Simon Hoare: In reference to your question, the Fraud Landscape Report figures were reported to the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) as part of established reporting cycles.The Government defines error as losses arising from unintentional events, processing errors and official Government errors - such losses are judged as without fraudulent intent. Since 2014, Fraud Landscape Reports show an increase in both detected fraud and error across Government.This is in line with the Government's explicit objective to find more fraud in the system. By detecting more, we can understand fraud better - and deal with it better.The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities detected error in 2019/20 was published in the Fraud Landscape Bulletin and in 2020/21 was published in the Fraud Landscape Report. The reasons for any increase are set out in these documents. The PSFA assists ministerial departments and public bodies in their delivery of specialist fraud activity. In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.

Department for Transport

P&O Ferries: Conditions of Employment

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to ensure that crew employment conditions on the (a) P&O Pioneer and (b) P&O Liberte ferries are compliant with the (i) ILO Maritime Labour Convention and (ii) Seafarers’ Charter.

Guy Opperman: The P&O PIONEER and P&O LIBERTE operate between the ports of Dover and Calais. These ships are subject to inspections both under the EU Directive, 2017/2110 on “A system of Inspections for the safe operations of ro-ro passenger ships and high-speed craft in regular service” and the Paris MoU port state control regime by the French and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). They are subject to two inspections under the EU directive and one port state control inspection every year. All of these inspections include verification of compliance with elements of the Maritime Labour Convention, for example: seafarer employment agreements; wages; accommodation; food and catering; leave; medical care; welfare; and health protection. Whenever surveyors from the MCA are on board these vessels, these items form part of their inspections.

P&O Ferries: Inspections

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what dates the Maritime and Coastguard Agency carried out port state control inspections of the (a) P&O Pioneer and (b) P&O Liberte ferries in Dover under the Merchant Shipping (Inspections of Ro-Ro Passenger Ships and High-Speed Passenger Craft) Regulations 2023.

Guy Opperman: The P&O PIONEER was last inspected under the EU Directive, 2017/2110 on “A system of Inspections for the safe operations of ro-ro passenger ships and high-speed craft in regular service” by the French on 17 November 2023 in the port of Calais. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) carried out general inspections on board on 2 and 9 June 2023 in the ports of Dunkerque and Dover respectively. The P&O LIBERTE was last inspected under the EU Directive, 2017/2110 on “A system of Inspections for the safe operations of ro-ro passenger ships and high-speed craft in regular service” by the French on 11 March 2024 in the port of Calais. The MCA carried out a port state control inspection on board on 7 March 2024 in the port of Dover. The Merchant Shipping (Inspections of Ro-Ro Passenger Ships and High-Speed Passenger Craft) Regulations 2023 do not apply to these vessels as they operate to an EU member state. As set out in Regulation 2(a), a regular service is defined as a service between a port in the United Kingdom and a port of a country other than an EU member state. The Merchant Shipping (Inspections of Ro-Ro Passenger Ships and High-Speed Passenger Craft) Regulations 2023 apply to all ro-ro passenger ferries or high-speed passenger craft, which operate a regular service to or from a port in the United Kingdom either on an international voyage to a non-EU port or to another UK port in sea areas designated Class A in accordance with the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ships on Domestic Voyages) Regulations 2000. Inspections of foreign flagged ro-ro passenger ferries or high-speed passenger craft on a regular service between the UK and a port in the European Union will be carried out under the Port State Control regime in accordance with Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011.

Electric Vehicles

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with of manufacturers of electronic vehicles on estimates of mileage ranges achievable in new vehicles.

Guy Opperman: Ministers regularly meet vehicle manufactures to discuss regulatory requirements – including those that set out how to establish official electric vehicle range figures.

Diesel Vehicles: Registration

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many diesel (a) cars and (b) vans were registered for the first time in each (i) region of England and (ii) borough in Greater London in each month in 2023.

Guy Opperman: The number of diesel (a) cars and (b) vans registered for the first time in each (i) region of England and (ii) borough in Greater London in 2023, for which data are available, is provided in the Excel file attached.Diesel cars and vans by region and london borough (xlsx, 24.7KB)

Railway Stations: Galgate

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of building a railway station in Galgate.

Huw Merriman: The Local Transport Fund granted £494 million to Lancashire to take forward local transport projects. The Government believes that local authorities are best placed to promote and take forward transport schemes that will most benefit their local areas. I would therefore encourage local stakeholders to work together to develop proposals and a business case for schemes such as a railway station in Galgate.

High Speed 2 Line: Birmingham

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2024 to Question 15333 on High Speed 2 Line, what assumptions were made on the potential services that could run north of Birmingham to provide the evidential basis for the statement that the new plan for HS2 will result in nearly doubling capacity up to 250,000 seats per day across the primary long-distance operator on the West Coast Main Line and Phase 1.

Huw Merriman: The Department is currently working on the requirement to develop a new train service specification for HS2 and West Coast Mainline services following the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement. The Department has committed to publish the Phase 1 Updated Business Case which will be based on an indicative train service specification and associated capacity in 2024. Any train service included in the business case will be indicative for modelling and planning purposes. Decisions on the train service that will run when HS2 is operational will made in due course and be subject to consultation.

Railways: Sustainable Development

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to expand the use of international rail as sustainable transport.

Huw Merriman: The Government fully supports the growth and development of international rail services given the environmental benefits these provide, as well as the social and economic benefits for UK citizens and businesses. My officials regularly engage with infrastructure managers, other Government Departments and European partners to discuss new routes and potential market entrants, and continue to welcome engagement with prospective operators where there is a credible commercial proposition to develop new services.

Cabinet Office

GREAT: Costs

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of the GREAT campaign since its re-launch in 2021.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the level of UK investment generated by the GREAT campaign since its re-launch in 2021.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his latest estimate is of the amount of investment that will be generated by the GREAT Study UK campaign.

Alex Burghart: The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.

Cabinet Office: Defamation

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraphs 7.16 and 7.17 of the Ministerial Code, on how many occasions have ministers in his department informed the Law Officers that they are the defendants in a libel action in (a) their personal capacity, (b) their official position and (c) both since 19 December 2019.

Alex Burghart: As set out in paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code: “The fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority”. As a result, the Government is unable to provide the details requested.

Civil Servants: Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what improvements he plans to make to the Veterans’ Gateway.

Johnny Mercer: This Government has conducted extensive research with veterans and charities to improve the offer to the veteran community.As a result of this feedback, we will improve access to guides and information by working with the Ministry of Defence and stakeholders to dramatically improve the information on GOV.UK. This will make content more accessible and easier to understand.We also plan to improve referrals and signposting so veterans can make a more informed decision about where to go to seek help. This will take account of the offers available from both statutory and charitable providers.A joint assessment with the Ministry of Defence is also underway to consider offline support, ensuring veterans receive the right help as effectively as possible.

Vetting

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Fifty-Third Report of Session 2022–23 of the Committee of Public Accounts entitled Performance of the UK Security Vetting service, HC 994, published on 12 May 2023, what steps his Department has taken to reduce delays in processing (a) Counter Terrorist Checks, (b) Security Checks and (c) Developed Vetting since the publication of that report.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the factors contributing to the average waiting time for Developed Vetting clearances; and what steps his Department is taking to help tackle these factors.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how delays in Developed Vetting clearances are communicated to (a) people and (b) Departments affected; and what steps his Department is taking to help manage the operational impact of such delays.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Developed Vetting clearance times on the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of (i) civil service personnel in roles requiring high-level security clearance and (ii) other civil service personnel.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to support departments to manage (a) workforce planning and (b) recruitment processes affected by the time taken to complete Developed Vetting clearances.

John Glen: The National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into the performance of UK Security Vetting published in January 2023 and the subsequent Public Accounts Committee in February 2023 identified that United Kingdom Security Vetting’s (UKSV) performance was affected by a range of issues including rising customer demand. The demand increased as the employment landscape grew following national lockdowns. Societal pressures and wider events (including conflict in Ukraine) also added to the demand impact.In 2023, UKSV implemented a stabilisation programme which included an increase in headcount. Under Ministerial direction, UKSV prioritised the recovery of initial Developed Vetting turnaround times, followed by Security Check and Counter Terrorist Check turnaround times. These first two targets were met on time and are now being processed within agreed timescales with a focus on supporting recruitment. UKSV is currently focussing efforts to maintain the performance of these and is making good progress to meet the third target to recover the turnaround times of Developed Vetting review cases.Departments and relevant Ministers receive regular updates on UKSV’s performance through governance boards and from the UKSV Customer Management Team. Sponsored individuals undergoing a clearance application are able to obtain updates relevant to their own application from the UKSV helpdesk.The security of our people, assets and information is a Government priority. UKSV are working with departments to better forecast demand and working on both efficiency and technology solutions to maintain long term stability. Furthermore, there is a clear and robust policy in place to support departments in ensuring their employees and contractors are security cleared to the appropriate level based on the information they need to access for their role.Though often concurrent, National Security Vetting (NSV) is distinct from recruitment processes and only required in some roles.In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

Civil Servants: Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2024 to Question 15551 on Civil Servants: Veterans, how many minority ethnic veterans were employed through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative in the last 12 months.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15551 on Civil Servants: Veterans, whether his office captures demographic data on veterans who access employment through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15550 on Civil Servants: Veterans, whether his office captures regional data on veterans who access employment through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Johnny Mercer: This Government is committed to making sure that all veterans have equal opportunities and can access valuable, sustainable careers, including in the Civil Service, after they leave the Armed Forces.There are a range of Civil Service recruitment initiatives for veterans, offering a fulfilling career in public service which makes the most of the skills and capability they have to offer. Over 1,000 veterans to date have secured a job in the Civil Service through the ‘Great Place to Work for Veterans’ initiative and a further 200 veterans have been recruited through the 'Going Forward Into Employment' initiative.Whilst a breakdown of demographics of veterans who apply to Civil Service roles is not currently available, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs is committed to enhancing the collection, use and analysis of data across the public, private and charitable sectors to build our evidence base to effectively identify and address the needs of veterans

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Tickets: Touting

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to work with (a) artists, (b) event organizers and (c) primary ticketing platforms to tackle ticket touting.

Julia Lopez: His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting fair and transparent ticket pricing and tackling unacceptable behaviour in this market.We have strengthened the law in relation to ticketing information requirements and have introduced a criminal offence of using automated software to buy more tickets online than is allowed. We also support the work of enforcement agencies in this area, such as the Competition and Markets Authority, National Trading Standards, and the advertising industry's own regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority.We engage with a range of key organisations and individuals operating in the ticketing sector to ensure a fair and transparent system. This includes STAR (the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, the self-regulatory body for the entertainment ticketing industry in the UK), the Competition and Markets Authority, Fanfair Alliance (the campaigning body against industrial scale online ticket touting), membership bodies representing all parts of the music sector including artists and event organisers, and, where appropriate, primary and secondary ticketing businesses.Ultimately, ticket pricing strategies are a matter for event organisers and ticketing platforms. We carry out ongoing monitoring of the legislative landscape in the ticketing market and in the light of technological, enforcement and other market developments, but agree with the recommendation in the Competition and Markets Authority’s 2021 report on secondary ticketing that there should not be a ban on the uncapped secondary ticket market.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Public Appointments

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the public appointments for which her Department is responsible are (a) women and (b) people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Julia Lopez: As of 31 March 2023, 43% of DCMS regulated appointment roles were held by women and 12% were held by individuals from an ethnic minority background.

Football: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the football industry on (a) the scale of and (b) tackling Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy suffered by ex-professional football players.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to ensure that football clubs donate a proportion of their profits to help ex-professional football players suffering Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy with their health and social care.

Stuart Andrew: The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. I welcome work by the football industry to protect players from harm and provide practical support to former players who develop neurodegenerative conditions. One example of this is the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Football Brain Health Fund, supported by the Premier League and announced in September 2023, which aims to assist former players and their families who have been impacted by dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions.The Government has no plans to legislate in this area, but will continue to liaise with the football authorities about their work to protect players and provide support, including funding initiatives.The Government continues to take the issue of head injuries very seriously. In December 2021 DCMS published its Command Paper report on concussion in sport, outlining the steps the Government is undertaking to help reduce risks associated with head injuries by improving understanding, awareness, prevention and treatment of concussion in sport. As part of this, in April 2023 the Government announced the first UK concussion guidelines for grassroots sport, in conjunction with the Sport and Recreation Alliance. This guidance is intended to be a helpful tool in reducing the risks associated with concussion and marks an important step in making sport safer for thousands of people who enjoy sport at a grassroots level, as well as an aid to professional sports.

Gambling: Suicide

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on investigations of gambling-related suicides.

Stuart Andrew: His Majesty’s Government recognises that, while millions of people gamble without experiencing problems, for some it becomes an addiction with serious consequences. It is particularly important to take steps to protect those, particularly young people, who are at risk of experiencing gambling harm.In April 2023 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published a White Paper following our review of the Gambling Act 2005. The White Paper outlined a series of measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and to ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected, including a commitment to introduce a new statutory levy paid by operators to fund research, prevention, and treatment. We are working at pace with the Gambling Commission to bring these measures into force as quickly as possible.In October 2023 the Gambling Commission published its decision to introduce a specific reporting requirement requiring gambling businesses to inform the Commission when they become aware of a person who has gambled with them has died by suicide. This requirement will come into force on 1 April 2024. While it is the role of the Coroner to investigate such death, where the Commission is made aware that a customer of a licensee has died by suicide, it will consider whether there is evidence of suspected regulatory failings and whether it would be appropriate and proportionate to take any regulatory action.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Fraud and Maladministration

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to pages 31 and 32 of the report entitled Cross-Government Fraud Landscape: Annual Report 2022, published on 21 March 2023, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the increase in detected error in her Department from £0.0 in 2019-20 to £0.1 in 2020-21.

Julia Lopez: DCMS is committed to tackling fraud and error wherever it is identified. A key strand of this work is ensuring better reporting of fraud and error, within the department and its public bodies.Minor fluctuations in reported error are expected year on year, and do not represent a change in our overall risk profile or failure of financial control.

Treasury

Question

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to reduce inflation.

Bim Afolami: Responsible decisions to support the Bank mean the UK has now turned a corner on inflation, but the government remains committed to ensuring inflation returns sustainably to its 2% target. There are four key things the government is doing to further reduce inflation whilst supporting growth:Remaining steadfast in our support for the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England as it acts to return inflation sustainably to the 2% target.Boosting labour supply. Labour market conditions are a key problem affecting UK businesses’ growth, as well as a significant driver of domestic inflation. Across Spring Budget 2023, Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024 tax and labour market measures increase total hours worked by the equivalent of more than 300,000 full-time workers by 2028-29.Introducing ambitious supply-side measures to support non-inflationary growth, including delivering full expensing to boost investment. The OBR estimate the impact of government policy, including tax and labour market measures, announced at the past three fiscal events mean the economy will be 0.7% bigger by the end of the forecast.Since Autumn Statement 2023, borrowing has been lower than the OBR forecast. Borrowing is forecast to fall in every year to 2028-29. This would be the lowest level of borrowing as a share of GDP since 2001-02. The OBR has concluded that measures in the Spring Budget – primarily freezes to fuel and alcohol duty – will reduce CPI inflation by 0.2% in 2024-25.

Tax Avoidance

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the tax HMRC identified through disguised remuneration schemes was paid by those who (a) recommended, (b) promoted and (c) operated these schemes in each of the last five years.

Bim Afolami: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has taken action to tackle the promoters of avoidance schemes, implementing a wide range of actions to disrupt their activities and supply chains, including publishing the details of promoters.However, liability for the tax is always that of the individual and there is no legal mechanism to transfer disguised remuneration liabilities from the scheme users to the promoters.As of 29 February 2024, HMRC has published the details of 70 tax avoidance schemes, 65 promoters and 29 connected persons, such as company directors and those individuals in control of the promoting entity.HMRC has also issued over 20 stop notices to promoters and published details of 16 of these arrangements. Publishing this information supports taxpayers in identifying tax avoidance schemes so they can steer clear of or exit them.The list of details of tax avoidance schemes, promoters, connected persons and stop notices currently published online can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/named-tax-avoidance-schemes-promoters-enablers-and-suppliers

Video Games: Tax Allowances

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much Video Games Tax Relief was paid out to companies with production values above £15 million in each year between 2020 and 2023.

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much Video Games Tax Relief was paid out to companies with production values below £15 million in each year between 2020 and 2023.

Nigel Huddleston: HMRC publishes statistics on the cost of video games tax relief here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/creative-industries-statistics-august-2023 A breakdown of claims by production budgets is not available. However, within the National Statistics (Video Games – Table 4.2) there is a breakdown by the size of the claim.

Capital Gains Tax

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he recused himself from pre-Budget discussions on reducing the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax.

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish his Department's modelling of the impact of a reduction in the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax on the number of property transactions.

Nigel Huddleston: The OBR have confirmed that residential property transactions will be around 60,000 higher over the 5-year forecast, owing to the cut to the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on residential property gains from 28 per cent to 24 per cent.The published costings note which covers underlying assumptions and methodologies, can be found here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65e7920c08eef600155a5617/Published_Costing_Document_Spring_Budget_2024_Final.pdf Further information on the methodology also can be found here:https://obr.uk/letters-to-john-mcdonnell-mp-and-sir-geoffrey-clifton-brown-mp/As set out in the Ministerial Code, there is an established process in place for the declaration and management of private interests held by ministers. This process ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest. These interests were properly declared in line with ministerial code. The Chancellor has also said: “I’ve decided that when it comes to properties I own, it would be wrong for me to benefit from a direct decision like that. So I will pay tax on the previous rate.”

Farmers: Investment

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to enable full expensing for capital expenditure by farmers.

Nigel Huddleston: At Autumn Statement 2023, the Chancellor announced that full expensing will be made permanent, allowing companies to claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying main rate plant and machinery investments. Full expensing is available to all incorporated companies, including farmers. There are other generous capital allowances that are available to unincorporated businesses, including the Annual Investment Allowance. In Autumn 2022 it was permanently set at its highest ever level of £1 million a year. The Annual Investment Allowance allows businesses to claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying main or special rate assets up to a total of £1 million per year.

Theatre: Tax Allowances

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of making the Theatre Tax Relief permanent on the theatre industry.

Nigel Huddleston: At Spring Budget 2024, the government announced that from 1 April 2025, the rate of theatre tax relief will be set permanently at 40% (for non-touring productions) and 45% (for touring productions). This is a highly generous level of relief that will support theatre companies to continue to put on outstanding home-grown productions. 705 theatre companies benefitted from theatre tax relief in the last year of available statistics. Further information can be found in HMRC’s Creative Industries Statistics, which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/creative-industries-statistics-august-2023

Oil: Refineries

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue has accrued to the Exchequer per oil refinery since 2015.

Nigel Huddleston: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not hold readily available data on revenue accrued per oil refinery.

Film: Tax Allowances

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Independent Film Tax Credit on the independent film sector.

Nigel Huddleston: The UK Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC) announced at Spring Budget is an enhanced tax credit, designed to boost the production of UK independent films and incubate UK film talent. Under the IFTC, films with budgets up to £15m that meet the criteria of a new British Film Institute test will be able to claim a tax credit of 53% on up to 80% of their UK production costs.Industry has welcomed the measure, with the British Film Institute Chair describing it as a game changer for UK filmmakers that will create jobs and ensure great British stories continue to be told.Further information on HMRC’s assessment of the credit can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corporation-tax-tax-relief-for-independent-film-productions

Film: Tax Allowances

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Film Studios Relief on film studios.

Nigel Huddleston: The government has announced that eligible film studios in England will receive a 40% reduction on gross business rates bills until 2034 which is a tax cut worth £470 million over the next 10 years. This will ensure that existing studios remain competitive and support new studio investments in England. The most recent statistics from 2019 indicate that film and high-end TV alone contributed £11.9 billion in Gross Value Added and over 195,000 jobs to the UK economy.

Video Games: Tax Allowances

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the additional tax relief for visual effects on the visual effects industry.

Nigel Huddleston: At Spring Budget 2024, the government announced that from 1 April 2025, companies claiming the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) will be able to receive a 5-percentage point increase in tax relief (a total rate of 39%) on UK visual effects costs in film and high-end TV productions. The government will also remove the AVEC’s 80% cap on expenditure for UK visual effects costs, so companies will be able to claim relief on all UK visual effects spend.The policy objective is to incentivise companies to use more visual effects in their film and high-end TV productions, and for that visual effects work to be carried out in the UK.The government will shortly publish a 10-week consultation on the types of cost that will be in scope of the additional tax relief.As the details of policy are under development, the government cannot yet publish an assessment of its impact on the visual effects industry. The government will publish a Tax Information and Impact Note in due course.

Public Sector: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that public sector workers in Northern Ireland are able to receive a pay award that is equal to levels in England and Wales.

Laura Trott: The UK Government is providing the Northern Ireland Executive with a comprehensive £3.3 billion spending settlement to stabilise public services, better manage public finances and pave the way for transformation of public services.Within this package, the UK Government provided £846 million to support the Northern Ireland Executive’s budget pressures in 2023-24, including public sector pay pressuresIt is the Executive’s responsibility to decide on the level of public sector pay awards for devolved areas in Northern Ireland and to balance these costs against other priorities.

Revenue and Customs: Finance

Drew Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the funding allocation for HM Revenue and Customs in financial year 2024-25.

Laura Trott: The government regularly reviews the levels of funding provided to HMRC. The 2021 Spending Review settlement gave HMRC a £0.9bn cash increase over Parliament, from £4.3bn in 2019/20 to £5.2bn in 2024/25.Additional funding was also provided to HMRC at the recent Budget to ensure the department is able to collect the taxes that are due.

Ministry of Justice

Reoffenders

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the number of reoffenders aged 18 years or over by (a) age and (b) offence type for the year ending March 2023.

Edward Argar: The number of reoffenders aged 18 years or over by (a) age and (b) offence type for the year ending March 2023 will be published at the end of January 2025.The attached tables show the number of reoffenders by (a) age and (b) index offence type for the year ending March 2022.This Government is committed to reducing reoffending, and reoffending rates have fallen from 31.3% in 2011/12 to 25.2% in 2021/22. We are investing in rehabilitation to stop prison leavers falling back into crime – including tackling drug addiction, increasing the number of offenders in work and providing basic, short-term accommodation on release. We are also delivering the Prison Education Service which raises the level of numeracy, literacy and skills of prisoners, with the aim of securing jobs or apprenticeships after they leave custody.On top of this, we are doubling the number of GPS tags available to courts for sentencing, ensuring more burglars and robbers are tagged which ultimately keeps our communities safer.PQ_18801 (xlsx, 20.8KB)

Reoffenders

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to receive the report of HM Chief Inspector of Probation’s thematic review of probation recall culture and practice.

Edward Argar: The report of the Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) thematic review titled 'A thematic review of probation recall culture and practice' was published in November 2020. This was the second part of the review which the Secretary of State had asked the Chief Inspector of Probation to undertake, following the conviction of Joseph McCann for a series of sexual offences committed in 2019. A link to the report is here: A thematic review of probation recall culture and practice (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).In December 2023, following a commission by the Secretary of State to the Inspectorate in response to the Justice Select Committee IPP inquiry report, HMIP published a report titled ‘A thematic inspection of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions’. A link to this report is here: A thematic inspection of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).In both reports, the Inspectorate found that the Probation Service were taking proportionate and necessary decisions to recall offenders on licence for public protection.

Community Orders

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people did not complete community payback in each year since 2014.

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people given Community Payback as a community sentence did not complete the work assigned to them in each year since 2014.

Edward Argar: The Government is investing an additional £93m in Community Payback over three years. This will allow us to increase delivery of Community Payback back to pre-covid levels of delivery.We have launched a national campaign to recruit more than 500 additional Community Payback staff to bolster resources in every probation region and new staff are arriving in post. The additional staffing will enable us to boost delivery of Community Payback to pre-covid levels.There will be a particular focus on delivering more outdoor projects that improve local areas, sustainability focussed and allow the public to see justice being done.The table below shows how many Community Payback requirements and the proportion that were not completed in each year since 2014. The data covers all reasons why Community Payback requirements may not have been completed including offender deaths, deportation, orders revoked and resentenced, successful appeals and Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) activated (i.e. offender imprisoned for the remainder of their sentence).YearCommunity Payback Requirements Not CompletedProportion of Community Payback Requirements Not Completed201413,52142.5%201514,38434.6%201614,53532.5%201716,41739.8%201816,08845.1%201916,54143.3%202014,15452.2%202115,77644.4%202217,94935.4%202319,13534.1%Data as of 7 March 2024. Please note these data relate to Community Payback requirements, not individuals or hours. An individual may have had multiple Community Payback requirements across the time period and all of these have been counted separately. It is important to note that some of those incomplete Community Payback requirements may have a number of hours completed.Owing to the amalgamation of multiple legacy IT systems, with the introduction of Transforming Rehabilitation back in 2014, a slightly different methodology has been utilised to identify those cases where Community Payback had not been completed, in the years 2014 and 2015. This has been utilised to ensure that data are accurate, representative and consistent across the period shown.The year listed is when the Community Payback requirement was terminated.Data are sourced from nDelius and while these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.

Prisoners' Release

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department had with (a) probation officers, (b) senior probation officers and (c) trade union officials representing probation officers before announcing the extension of the end of custody supervised license scheme.

Edward Argar: The End of Custody Supervised License (ECSL) Scheme is a targeted measure that will operate in certain areas for a limited period of time where we are moving a prisoner’s release date earlier. We are committed to continue working with the police, prisons, and probation leaders to make further adjustments as required. Prior to the announcement in Parliament of the extension of ECSL on 11 March, Senior Regional Prison and Probation leaders and Trade Unions were advised of the decision to extend ECSL, to prepare to implement the ECSL changes effectively.

Young Offenders: Pupil Exclusions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of young people in youth offender institutions who have previously been (a) suspended and (b) excluded from school in the latest period for which data is available.

Edward Argar: To obtain the information requested, it would be necessary to interrogate a number of separate records for each young person: in some cases, it would also be necessary to speak to the young person. That could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Smuggling

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help prevent drones being used to bring drugs and other illicit goods into prisons.

Edward Argar: We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones to deliver contraband into prisons. We conduct vulnerability assessments across the estate to understand the risk and develop and implement plans to manage and mitigate the threat, including physical countermeasures.The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021 established powers for prisons to authorise the use of counter-drone technology. This Act also enables the police to stop and search those suspected of committing drone-related crimes.In January this year, we strengthened the legislative framework by introducing Restricted Fly Zones around prisons to disrupt illegal drone use. This strengthens our ability to intercept illicit items being smuggled via drones, and enables the police to fine or prosecute those seeking to undermine prison security.Recent joint operations with the police and HMPPS have resulted in a number of drone related arrests and disruptions to the activity of serious and organised crime networks. Since June 2016 we have secured over 70 convictions, and those convicted have been sentenced to more than a total of 240 years in prison.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Animal Welfare

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the findings of the post-implementation review of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.

Mark Spencer: Defra has undertaken a post-implementation review (PIR) of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations) as mandated by the regulations’ review clause. This evaluation assesses the extent to which the regulations have achieved their intended goals and identifies areas for potential improvement.The PIR will be published soon.

Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to reduce the cap on concentration levels per individual type of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances that require immediate water treatment from 100 nanograms per litre to 10 nanograms per litre.

Robbie Moore: The guideline value on individual types of PFAS of 100 nanograms per litre was set in 2021 based on an assessment of existing scientific knowledge. It was agreed with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to be a robust level with an appropriate margin to ensure our drinking water is safe to drink. There is no evidence of PFAS concentrations above this value in drinking water supplies. Nevertheless, work is continuing with other government departments, regulators and the devolved administrations to assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to safeguard current high drinking water quality and ensure our regulations remain fit for purpose.

Drinking Water: Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will create a national chemicals regulator to improve coordination of (a) monitoring and (b) regulation of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water.

Robbie Moore: Defra works closely with the other Government Departments, regulators and the Devolved Governments to monitor and assess levels of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks, in order to inform and develop policy and regulatory approaches in a coordinated way. Drinking water quality in England is of an exceptionally high standard and is among the best in the world. The UK is one of only six nations in the world with the maximum score possible in the 2022 Environmental Performance Index. We are progressing work under the UK REACH regulatory regime to reduce PFAS emissions. This includes developing possible UK REACH restrictions, beginning with PFAS in fire-fighting foams, and also exploring further possible restrictions covering a wide range of industrial and consumer uses.

Animals (Low-welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress he has made on implementing the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.

Mark Spencer: The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of future bans on the advertising and offering for sale, in England and Northern Ireland, of low-welfare animal activities abroad. Future decisions on which specific animal activities will fall in scope of the advertising ban will be evidence-based and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. Sufficient, compelling evidence will be required to demonstrate why any specific advertising ban is needed. This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority and we are currently exploring a number of options to ensure progress as soon as is practicable.

Plastics: Pollution

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of levels of plastic pollution per capita in the UK; what steps his Department is taking to tackle those levels; and what plans he has to reduce plastic waste generation in the long-term.

Robbie Moore: We have banned the use of microbeads in rinse-off personal care products. Our single-use plastic carrier bag charge, now 10p, has reduced the number of such bags given out by the main supermarkets by over 98%. We brought in measures to restrict the supply of single-use plastic straws and single-use plastic stemmed cotton buds and ban the supply of plastic drink stirrers in 2020. In October 2023, we also banned the supply of single-use plastic plates, bowls, and trays to the end-user and banned the supply of single-use plastic cutlery and single-use plastic balloon sticks and expanded and foamed extruded polystyrene food and drinks containers, including cups. In April 2022, we brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax, a tax of £200 per tonne on plastic packaging manufactured in, or imported into the UK, that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. From April 2023, it has increased in line with inflation to £210.82/tonne.Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) will make producers responsible for the costs of collecting and managing packaging they place on the market when it is no longer used and becomes waste. This will encourage businesses to think carefully about how much packaging they use, to design and use packaging that is easily recyclable, and to use reusable and refillable packaging. This will contribute to our goals of a more circular economy, in which resources are kept in use for longer, minimising the waste we create, and cutting carbon emissions.As one of the founding members of the high ambition coalition of countries calling for an end to plastic pollution by 2040, the UK will do all we can to press for the agreement of a high ambition Treaty by the end of 2024.

Food: Waste

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of (a) voluntary and (b) mandatory food waste reporting.

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on increasing the take up of voluntary food waste reporting by large businesses.

Robbie Moore: The Secretary of State decided in November 2023 to look again at how best to secure the benefits of food waste reporting for large businesses. We are currently gathering further evidence, including ways to enhance voluntary reporting, and will re-consider all options in the 2022 consultation using the latest available data. We expect to make the decision later this year. The consultation’s Impact Assessment includes an assessment of the effectiveness of the voluntary and mandatory approaches to reporting.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Border Target Operating Model, what guidance his Department has issued to veterinary professionals in Europe on the checks needed ahead of approving an export health certificate for a consignment before import to the UK.

Mark Spencer: Defra is engaging stakeholders across all SPS sectors across the EU and with trading partners around the world to raise awareness of, and aid preparedness for, the Border Target Operating Model (TOM). Information is being shared through a series of live and virtual engagement events and communications detailing actions required. Online guidance is available on GOV.UK. The UK CVO has also written to the European Commission and EU counterparts providing updates on the BTOM implementation. Ultimately it is for the Competent Authority of the exporting country to advise their Official Veterinarians of the checks required, just as we do for Official Vets signing Export Health Certificates for consignments going from the UK.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which organisations will be responsible for billing for (a) the common user charge and (b) other charges arising from the Border Target Operating Model.

Mark Spencer: Defra consulted last year on the proposed Common User Charge (CUC) to recover operating costs at Government-run Border Control Posts (BCPs). It invited views on the principles, methodology and indicative rates for the CUC to determine fair and reasonable charges. Defra will use feedback to inform the final policy, which we expect to publish shortly. Port Health Authorities (PHAs) have charging mechanisms in place for covering the costs of checking sanitary and phytosanitary consignments, and the Government, in conjunction with devolved administrations, is working with PHAs to review fee levels and support the implementation of new checks of imports from the EU in early 2024. Commercial BCP fees are a business decision for the operators of those sites.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to assess the readiness of proposed border control post facilities in the context of the implementation of the Border Target Operating Model.

Mark Spencer: We are working closely with all border stakeholders to ensure readiness for the implementation of physical controls from 30 April. This includes participating in a cross-government programme of operational testing at Border Control Posts to assure infrastructure and processes for implementation.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the process will be for importers to derogate the 24-hour notification process for medium-risk goods to four hours under the Border Target Operating Model.

Mark Spencer: The requirement for IPAFFS (Import of products, animals, food and feed system) prenotifications to be submitted one working day ahead of an animal product consignment’s arrival in GB is an existing requirement for goods from the EU, excluding goods from the island of Ireland. The requirement will remain as is from 31 January for those EU goods it currently applies to, and will be introduced for EU and non-qualifying Northern Ireland goods from the island of Ireland. The way in which this requirement will be enforced will also remain unchanged from now in the January-April period. This aligns with our wider approach to implementation. From the point that controls at the border are introduced, importers will be able to contact Port Health Authorities (PHAs) to request a derogation to reduce the pre-notification window to a minimum of four hours. It may be possible to negotiate a global derogation for certain routes with the PHA, benefiting regular shipments on these paths. However, this would need to be based on agreement with the relevant PHA.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department plans to take to enforce the 24-hour notification process for medium-risk goods under the Border Target Operating Model.

Mark Spencer: We will look to implement the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) in a way that recognises that new requirements are being placed on traders. As a result, we will introduce the BTOM in a way that will focus on improving trader compliance rather than enforcement. However, enforcement will be implemented where there is evidence of deliberate avoidance, fraud or biosecurity concerns. From 30 April, our approach to compliance and enforcement will be carefully calibrated to balance an expectation that businesses will do their best to comply, with an understanding that there will be a period of adjustment to the new controls and the importance of minimising disruption to the flow of goods. We are working with the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Port Health Authorities to reach a clear and consistent understanding of how this calibrated approach will be implemented. We will continue to pursue an approach of supporting businesses towards full compliance via guidance and warnings where possible and only escalating enforcement where necessary. For medium-risk animal products, all consignments will receive a documentary check from 30 April, and all medium-risk plant consignments that undergo a Border Control Post inspection will have a document check.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Border Target Operating Model on the just-in-time models of (a) cold-chain haulage and (b) storage businesses.

Mark Spencer: The Government has and will continue to engage stakeholders across the food supply chain in the design and implementation of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), including the cold chain haulage and storage industries. We have listened carefully to this feedback, and designed the BTOM so that it minimises disruption and friction for traders to the greatest extent that is consistent with the imperative to protect UK biosecurity. We recognise that these controls do place a new requirement on such businesses, and that they will need time and support to adjust. As such the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Port Health/Local Authorities will adopt a carefully calibrated approach to enforcement that minimises the risk of disrupting trade flows, with an emphasis on educating and supporting businesses to comply. We are confident that Border Control Post infrastructure will have sufficient capacity and capability, including temperature-controlled facilities, to handle the volume of expected checks from 30 April. This will further ensure the impact on just-in-time models is minimised.

Dogs: Import Controls

Sarah Dyke: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) publish the responses to the 2021 consultation on the commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into Great Britain and (b) commit to a legislative timeframe to ban the import of dogs with cropped ears.

Mark Spencer: We are carefully reviewing the feedback gathered from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, and a summary will be published in due course. The practice of non-exempted mutilations such as cropping dogs' ears is abhorrent and has rightly been banned in the UK for over 10 years. The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, introduced by the hon. Member for North Devon on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill will contain powers that will enable future regulations for commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into the United Kingdom including prohibiting the import of dogs with cropped ears.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Offenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in his Department have a criminal conviction.

Mark Spencer: The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs. New appointments to Defra undergo pre-employment criminal record checks. Where a conviction is flagged, appointment is dependent on a role-specific risk assessment. Convictions for the following offences result in the individual automatically failing pre-employment checks and not being appointed: life sentences, arson, sexual offences and hate and terror offences. Defra has participated in the Going Forward into Employment Scheme for Ex-Offenders and has appointed to posts via this scheme. We can confirm that the numbers appointed under this scheme are currently less than 10. However, exact numbers may enable individuals to be identifiable and the privacy and confidentiality of this information requires us to ensure individuals are properly protected.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Fraud and Maladministration

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by his Department in each of the last three financial years.

Mark Spencer: The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. We have established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits. The PSFA produces a Fraud Landscape Report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2022). This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023. Information on detected fraud and error can be found in Defra’s Annual Report and Accounts. The Annual Report and Accounts for the past three years may be accessed here: Defra Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 (publishing.service.gov.uk) Defra Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 (publishing.service.gov.uk) Defra Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Import Controls: Disease Control

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the introduction of the Border Target Operating Model, what estimate his Department has made of the cost per consignment of acquiring health certificates for sanitary and phyto-sanitary controls.

Mark Spencer: We will publish the Economic Impact Assessment of the legislative measures required to enable the Border Target Operating Model in due course and no later than the Statutory Instruments are laid. This will contain summary data tables and they will include the requested information.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse for the direct administration of each consignment checked through the Border Target Operating Model.

Mark Spencer: We will publish the Economic Impact Assessment of the legislative measures required to enable the Border Target Operating Model in due course and no later than the Statutory Instruments are laid. This will contain summary data tables and they will include the requested information.

Import Controls

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will estimate the average cost to businesses of each consignment checked through the Border Target Operating Model.

Mark Spencer: We will publish the Economic Impact Assessment of the legislative measures required to enable the Border Target Operating Model in due course and no later than the Statutory Instruments are laid. This will contain summary data tables and they will include the requested information.

Department for Work and Pensions

Rented Housing

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) housing associations and (b) renter groups on the potential impact of a 53 week rent year in 2024-25.

Mims Davies: There has been no recent conversations with housing associations or renter groups regarding the formula to convert weekly rental liabilities to calendar monthly values in Universal Credit. Universal Credit always converts weekly amounts to monthly sums using 52 weeks. This may lead to a slight advantage to the claimant when converting weekly incomes and to a slight disadvantage when dealing with outgoings. The system is used because it is simple to operate and understand. The department has considered alternative options for those with weekly tenancies, but each have their own limitations and disadvantages for claimants and so there are no plans to change. The legitimacy of this calculation formula in Universal Credit was confirmed by the High Court in 2020 who found it to be neither irrational or discriminatory. Discretionary Housing Payments can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011, the government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities.

Department for Work and Pensions: Pay

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the impact that changes in the national (a) living and (b) minimum wage commencing on 1 April 2024 will have on staffing costs in his Department; and how many staff in his Department will receive a pay uplift as a result of those changes.

Paul Maynard: On 1 April 2024 the statutory National Living Wage (NLW) will be uplifted from £10.42 to £11.44 per hour, a rise of 9.8%. DWP pay NLW regardless of age. Based on January headcount data 22,267 DWP employees will be impacted by the 2024 increase to the NLW and will require a pay uplift to meet the new NLW rate. This is estimated to cost the department £22.59m including Employer National Insurance and Pension contributions this year.

Restart Scheme

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2023 to Question 7037 on Restart Scheme, if the Department will publish the results of the first Customer Satisfaction Measure survey.

Jo Churchill: There is no current plan to publish the full results of the first Customer Satisfaction Measure survey. DWP already publish the overall Customer Satisfaction Measure rate. The full results are used internally to improve delivery.

Universal Credit

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2024 to Question 17113 on Universal Credit and with reference to the National Audit Office's report entitled Progress in implementing Universal Credit, published on 27 February 2024, whether he has taken steps in response to the finding on the proportion of people claiming legacy benefits who (a) have not transferred to universal credit after receiving notice to switch and (b) have had their legacy benefits stopped.

Jo Churchill: Our priority is the ensure that everyone who wishes to make a claim to Universal Credit is able to do so. The Department undertook research to better understand why some tax credit only households were not making a claim to Universal Credit and our findings were published on 29 February 2024, Move to Universal Credit – insight on Tax Credit migrations and initial Discovery activity for wider benefit cohorts. The Department will be undertaking further surveys with IPSOS, which are due to commence in April 2024. Once this is complete, we are committed to publishing all our findings. It is the customers responsibility to choose whether to make an application for Universal Credit. There is no evidence to suggest any actions the Department has taken or should have taken are influencing that choice.

Pensions Ombudsman

Anthony Mangnall: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the length of time it takes for cases to be assessed by the Pensions Ombudsman.

Paul Maynard: DWP has provided additional financial support to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) to reduce the length of time it takes to deal with cases. Following increased funding of £750,000 in 2022/23 and £1,698,347 in 2023/24, an additional £1,050,000 has now been allocated for 2024/25 specifically for casework activities to reduce waiting times. Additional funding has increased case clearances and is beginning to reduce average waiting times.

State Retirement Pensions

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential implications of the state pension rise from April 2024 for the sustainability of pension funding.

Paul Maynard: The new State Pension was introduced in April 2016 with the aim of providing a clearer, sustainable foundation for State Pensions for decades to come. Each year, the Government Actuary’s Department publishes a report showing the impact of uprating decisions on the National insurance Fund. The most recent report in January this year took into account the 8.5% increase in the basic and new State Pensions which will come into force from 8 April. The assessment was that the Fund would have enough money to self-finance for at least the next five years. HM Treasury has the ability to top up the National Fund from the Consolidated Fund when needed, even if receipts do not match expenditure. The report said that a Treasury Grant would not be needed in the next five years.

Universal Credit

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants who have no work requirements have been migrated from legacy benefits.

Jo Churchill: We will continue to assess the feasibility of publishing data by conditionality groups at a future date.

Jobcentres: Bournemouth East

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to expand support available through Jobcentres in Bournemouth East constituency.

Jo Churchill: The local Jobcentre team are collaborating with a range of partners to support people into work and employers fill vacancies. In addition to hosting jobs fairs and delivering sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs), the Jobcentre is working with Bournemouth and Poole College, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, Citizens Advice, Faithworks, Seetec Plus, Aspire Training, Skills & Learning, International Care Network, Parks in Mind, the Boscombe Towns Fund and many other partners and organisations to provide an employment and skills offer to help meet the recruitment needs of local employers.. SWAPs are either active or planned in Facilities Management, Hospitality, IT and Communications, Education, Construction, Security, Manufacturing, Administration and the Civil Service through a range of local providers and these are being promoted through both Bournemouth Jobcentres closest to this Ward. Disability Employment Advisers are supporting the Community Support Hub at a Health and Support Pop-Up: Community Wellness Event between the 18th and 28th March at the Bournemouth Arts Depot in Boscombe, where local people can access high-quality health services completely free of charge. This is in collaboration with BEAF Arts Co, Boscombe Innovation Hub, Help & Care, Community Action Network (CAN), and Healthwatch.

Universal Credit

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to tackle discrepancies in entitlements for people on legacy benefits who are required to migrate to Universal Credit.

Jo Churchill: The Government has given a commitment that no eligible customer, notified they must claim Universal Credit (UC) by the Department for Work and Pensions, and whose circumstances remain the same, will have a lower entitlement on claiming UC than their existing entitlement to legacy benefits. To meet this commitment, eligible customers will be assessed for Transitional Protection and where necessary awarded a Transitional Element as part of their UC award. Transitional Protections are also applied to customers who would not normally meet UC entitlement conditions. Normal UC entitlement rules of not being in full time education are disregarded for the duration of the course the customer was undertaking on claiming UC and having capital over £16,000 does not prevent entitlement for UC for 12 assessment periods.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Energy: Reform

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the press notice by her predecessor Department entitled BEIS in the Autumn Statement, published on 18 December 2022, what her planned timetable is for assessing the potential merits of (a) introducing social tariffs and (b) wider retail market reforms in the energy sector.

Amanda Solloway: A social tariff is fundamentally about supporting the most vulnerable with the cost of energy and this is what we have delivered. Between 2022-25 we are delivering a package of support worth £108 billion, or £3,800 per household on average, across 2022-25. In 2023-24 we have supported millions of vulnerable households with up to £900 in further cost-of-living payments. Despite the Quarter 2 2024 Ofgem price cap falling nearly 60% since its 2023 peak, we have committed to supporting households past April, by cutting National Insurance, and increasing benefits and the National Living Wage. We have also been working with Ofgem on their new involuntary prepayment meter rules and a long-term solution to end the prepayment meter premium. I met with suppliers at the end of last year to outline my expectation that they support vulnerable customers and improve their customer service. The Government published a vision for a reformed retail energy market in July 2023 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-a-better-energy-retail-market/delivering-a-better-energy-retail-market-a-vision-for-the-future-and-package-of-targeted-reforms-html) and set out further reform measures in a package of publications on 23 February 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-package-of-measures-to-help-families-save-even-more-on-bills).

Energy: Social Tariffs

Chris Loder: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of launching a consultation on the introduction of a social energy tariff.

Amanda Solloway: A social tariff is fundamentally about supporting the most vulnerable with the cost of energy and this is what we have delivered. Between 2022-25 we are delivering a package of support worth £108 billion, or £3,800 per household on average. In 2023-24 we have supported millions of vulnerable households with up to £900 in further cost-of-living payments. Despite the Quarter 2 2024 Ofgem price cap falling nearly 60% since its 2023 peak, we have committed to supporting households past April, by cutting National Insurance, and increasing benefits and the National Living Wage. We have also been working with Ofgem on their new involuntary prepayment meter rules and a long-term solution to end the prepayment meter premium. I met with suppliers at the end of last year to outline my expectation that they support vulnerable customers and improve their customer service.

Energy: Housing

Dr Neil Hudson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department has taken to improve the energy efficiency of older homes.

Amanda Solloway: The Government recognises the UK has some of the oldest housing stock in Europe, with over 35% of houses being built before 1945. We are committed to ensuring that no-one is left behind in the transition to Net Zero, supplying solutions that work for all buildings, income groups, and housing types. The Government recently published its ‘Adapting Historic Homes for Energy Efficiency: A Review of the Barriers’, reviewing approaches to retrofitting complex-to-decarbonise homes, including historic and listed buildings. Alongside this the Government is allocating £20 billion over this parliament and next on energy efficiency and low carbon heating, improving supply chains and enhancing the consumer advice offer to constituents.

Energy: Conservation

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if her Department will update its information on energy efficiency online to include the potential costs savings of (a) circulator pumps and (b) hydraulic balancing.

Amanda Solloway: The ‘Welcome Home to Energy Efficiency’ advice site focuses on longer term changes consumers can make to their homes to make them more sustainable and help reduce energy costs. The content of the site is regularly reviewed and updated by the Department’s policy teams to ensure the information on specific measures and schemes is accurate and that emerging new schemes and technologies are included.The government was clear in the government response to the consultation on the standards now known as Boiler Plus, that hydraulic balancing is an expected practice that should be undertaken when a new boiler installed.

Firewood: Imports

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the average annual tonnage of wood imported for burning in (a) industrial and (b) domestic settings; which (i) countries and (ii) sites in those countries that wood is imported from; and how many tonnes on average comes from each of those countries each year.

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the average annual tonnage of wood burnt in homes in the UK.

Andrew Bowie: Figures on the amount of imported wood and waste wood by country is published in The Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) Table 6.6, but information on sites is not collected. Imports of waste wood are used in the industrial, commercial and agricultural sectors and all imports of wood are burnt in the domestic sector; of the 2,319 thousand tonnes of wood consumed in the domestic sector in 2022, 198 thousand tonnes were imported.

Oldbury Power Station and Wylfa Power Station: Land

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to paragraph 4.53 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, how much land the Government is acquiring in its purchase of the (a) Wylfa and (b) Oldbury-on-Severn sites; what method the Government used to estimate the value of each of those sites; and what criteria the Government used to determine the sites to be purchased.

Andrew Bowie: The Wylfa and Oldbury sites have inherent characteristics that make them suitable for consideration for nuclear development. Those characteristics, the previous development work and the terms of agreement were all factors in progressing with the purchase. Independent valuations were obtained for both sites and the purchase secures access to approximately 600 acres at Wylfa and approximately 400 acres at Oldbury.

Energy: Costs

Dr Neil Hudson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department has taken to support users of off-grid energy with energy costs.

Amanda Solloway: I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave my Hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn on 22 January 2024 to Question 10266.

Energy: Overseas Companies

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2024 to Question 17929 on Energy: Overseas Companies, which overseas energy companies registered in the UK have received funding from her (a) Department and (b) predecessor Department in excess of £50 million in each year since 2021.

Andrew Bowie: 2021 – No overseas energy companies registered in the UK received funding from BEIS in excess of £50 million in the calendar year of 2021. 2022 – EDF Energy Customers Ltd, EDF Energy Holdings Ltd, EON Next Energy Ltd and Scottish Power Energy Retail LTD all received funding in excess of £50 million from BEIS in the calendar year of 2022. 2023 – EDF Energy Customers Ltd, EON Next Energy Ltd and Scottish Power Energy Retail LTD all received funding in excess of £50 million from BEIS/DESNZ in the calendar year of 2023. Up until August 2023, DESNZ data was still being published under BEIS. Separating these transactions for each department would be at a disproportionate cost. 2024 - no overseas energy companies registered in the UK have received funding from DESNZ in excess of £50 million in the calendar year of 2024 to date. Please note, these companies are being categorised as overseas, at they are all overseas owned. Some of them may be situated and operate in the United Kingdom but are categorised as being overseas in our data due to their ownership. These figures include the unprecedented payments made to energy suppliers to reduce consumer bills in 2022 and 2023 through the Energy Price Guarantee.

Energy: Planning Permission

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many energy planning applications she has approved.

Graham Stuart: All decisions taken by the Secretary of State relating to energy planning applications for development consent are published on the Planning Inspectorates web-site and are publicly available. Since the Secretary of State's appointment in August 2023, a total of six decisions have been published and development consent was granted in all cases.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Semiconductors

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure regional representation on the UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel.

Saqib Bhatti: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer the previous Minister for Tech and Digital Economy gave on 23 October 2023. In setting up the UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel, the government aimed for a small, focused group while ensuring representation across the semiconductor supply chain, UK domestic strengths, geographical locations and company size. We continue to speak with the full spectrum of the UK’s semiconductor industry, including regular engagement with companies and representatives from across the UK.

Broadband: South Holland and the Deepings

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of households that haveaccesstobroadbandinSouth Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Julia Lopez: According to Ofcom’s December 2023 Connected Nations report, over 93% of premises in South Holland and The Deepings have access to a superfast connection, with 66% having access to a gigabit-capable connection. Only 2% of premises are unable to access a decent broadband connection and may be able to get an improved connection through the broadband USO. The broadband USO gives individuals the right to request a decent broadband connection under the condition that their current connection falls below 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload; the cost of accessing a decent broadband connection is higher than £54 per month; and they are not due to be connected by an existing government scheme within the next 12 months. Consumers whose connections would cost more than the reasonable cost threshold of £3,400 can choose to pay the excess cost (with crowdfunding options available). The Government is rolling out Project Gigabit, a £5 billion mission to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to 99% of UK premises. This constituency is included in the procurement for Lincolnshire and East Riding, with a contract award expected in summer.

Telecommunications: Regulation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reviewing regulatory oversight of and (b) promoting good practice by the telecoms industry.

Julia Lopez: As the independent regulator for the telecoms industry, Ofcom plays an essential role in maintaining regulatory oversight, promoting best practice and liaising with government to provide the best outcomes possible for the consumer. The regulator undertakes regular reviews of regulation, and it concluded its Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review in 2021, setting out broadband regulation for the 2021-2026 period. It also assessed its approach to mobile markets in its Mobile Strategy Review in 2022.The Government published its Statement of Strategic Priorities in 2019 to ensure Ofcom’s regulation is aligned with our objectives, including our commitments to world-class digital infrastructure, promoting competition, and to safeguarding the interests of telecoms consumers.A consultation on ‘Strengthening economic regulation in the water, energy and telecoms sectors’ concluded in January this year and we are currently considering responses related to the telecoms sector.

Broadband: West Yorkshire

Mark Eastwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure residents across West Yorkshire receive enhanced connectivity levels from broadband providers.

Julia Lopez: According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 98% of premises in the West Yorkshire County can access a superfast broadband connection. Additionally, 88% of premises are able to access a gigabit-capable connection, up from 12% in December 2019. There is a thriving market of over 100 providers investing nearly £40bn rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK. As part of Project Gigabit, we recently announced a Project Gigabit contract in West Yorkshire and parts of North Yorkshire. This contract has a value of £60 million and will further extend gigabit-capable coverage to around 28,000 hard-to-reach premises.

Telecommunications: Social Tariffs

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that there is adequate provision of social tariffs in rural areas.

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has set a target for (a) total provision and (b) provision in rural areas of broadband social tariffs.

Julia Lopez: Social tariffs are currently available in 99% of the UK which includes both urban and rural areas. Social tariffs are commercial products which are offered voluntarily by telecoms providers to support those on low incomes. Social tariffs are currently offered by 28 different providers across the UK and are available to an estimated 5 million households on Universal Credit as well as other means-tested benefits. In December 2023, Ofcom’s Pricing Trends report showed that 380,000 UK households now take up a social tariff, an almost 160% increase from September 2022. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has not set a target for the provision of social tariffs. The Government and Ofcom continue to press operators to do more to raise awareness of social tariffs so that eligible households make use of them. Ofcom’s report also showed that just 45% of eligible households were aware of low-cost broadband offers. In July 2023, Ofcom’s Chief Executive wrote to the sector to set out the regulator’s expectation that they should do more to promote awareness, such as by highlighting tariffs on bills and end-of-contract notifications.

Kate Sang

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will publish the advice from officials that provided the basis for her claims about Professor Kate Sang.

Andrew Griffith: It is a longstanding principle that advice between officials and ministers remains confidential.

Department for Business and Trade

Office for Investment: Infosys

Pat McFadden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many times the Office for Investment met with (a) Infosys and (b) Infosys representatives in 2023.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: An official from the Office for Investment attended a meeting between Infosys and the Minister for Investment on 27 April 2023, in Bengaluru, India.The Office for Investment did not attend any meetings prior to this or afterwards with Infosys or their representatives in 2023.

Export Controls

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many full time equivalent staff are employed solely to process export licence applications as of 12 March 2024; and whether she has plans to review the adequacy of that staffing level.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As of 12 March 2024, the processing of export licence applications is delivered by 48.61 full-time equivalent (FTE) officials within the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). This comprised 26.5 FTE in the Licensing Unit, 19.61 FTE in the Technical Assessment Unit and 2.5 FTE in the Enforcement Team.They are supported by teams from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office who are also part of the Export Control Joint Unit and who provide advice to DBT on export licence applications.As export licensing is a demand-led service, ECJU regularly assesses how to organise its resources to enable it to provide the most efficient and effective service and to adapt to changing demands.

Department for Business and Trade: Training

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what (a) training and (b) support her Department provides to civil servants processing export licence applications.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: All staff within the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) undergo a programme of training and development to equip them with the knowledge and skills required to thoroughly and efficiently process export licence applications.New recruits are given the opportunity of a mentor and to work alongside more experienced colleagues for between 12 and 18 months, depending on the nature of their role and the team they work in, to enable them to develop a detailed understanding of the process and their responsibilities.They are also able to attend the courses ECJU runs for exporters to develop their broader understanding of export controls and the licensing process. To support them in performing their day to day roles ECJU is developing a comprehensive suite of desk-based instructions to underpin its standard operating procedures.Learning and Development is a key priority for this Department and an extensive suite of training opportunities is readily available to all civil servants, including officials in ECJU.

Export Controls: Standards

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the (a) target and (b) average time taken to process export licence applications is as of 12 March 2024.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Export Control Joint Unit is extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face - and of the need to process licence applications with minimum delay - which is why it strives to meet its licensing targets (to conclude 70 per cent of standard individual export licence applications within 20 working days and 99 per cent within 60 working days).We publish comprehensive Official Statistics every quarter about the decisions we make on licence applications, which includes our median processing times. This covers data from every year since January 2008 and including our most recent publication covering the quarter up to June 2023. This data is available at:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.

Export Controls: Standards

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of average export licence processing times on businesses that require quick approvals of those licences.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Export Control Joint Unit is extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face and of the need to process licence applications with minimum delay.One of the reasons we are transparent about our processing targets and performance is to enable exporters to be well informed about the process and to plan for the need to apply for an export licence in advance. However, some destinations remain more challenging and will take longer than our target times to complete as we continue to maintain our robust export controls regime.The Government's policy on export control is certainly not to frustrate or hamper the ability of companies to trade, but to make the world a safer place for us all by operating a clear, proportionate, and robust system of export controls in the UK.

Export Controls: Standards

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to ensure export licence applications are processed in a timely manner.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to (a) streamline the export licence application process, (b) increase efficiency and (c) reduce wait times.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what processes her Department has in place to (a) meet sudden increased demand and (b) delays in processing applications for export licences.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) is extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face - and of the need to process licence applications with minimum delay and within our public target timeframes. However, some destinations remain more challenging and will take longer to complete as we continue to maintain our robust export controls regime.ECJU has an ongoing programme of Continuous Improvement and we routinely identify and implement opportunities to make targeted improvements to the way we operate and manage the export licensing service to help us adapt to the changing demands on the system.ECJU is also in the process of rolling out its new digital export licensing system, LITE, which will provide a modern digital service that streamlines the export licence application process and supports decision-making through effective use of data. The key aim of LITE is to deliver an efficient, rigorous, and customer-friendly export licensing and compliance service.

Private Sector: Ukraine

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with her counterpart in Ukraine on the role of Ukraine's private sector in the country's economic resilience (a) during and (b) after the war.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: I met with Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, at the end of February.We discussed the role of Ukraine’s private sector in the country’s resilience and reconstruction, the importance of transparent and clear procurement and the alignment between Ukraine’s reform agenda and enhancing its business environment both during and after the war. My department works closely with colleagues in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and Government of Ukraine counterparts to address these important topics.

Northern Ireland Office

Sean Brown

Colum Eastwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will call a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown in 1997.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The murder of Sean Brown was an appalling act. I acknowledge the great suffering it has caused and continues to cause the Brown family, and the wider community.I am currently taking appropriate advice and considering the Coroner’s report.